Chapter Title: The Room
Series Title: Unlikely Brothers
POV: Tanner
Ages in this chapter: Tanner (13) Dashen (19)
Chapter Summary: Tanner tries out some new Force exercises inside an empty room in Colton's house.
"You want me to what?"
"Run toward me as fast as you can. Don't stop, even if it looks like you'll run into me."
"And why would I do this?"
"I'm practicing."
"Gods, not again. Didn't we have oh, I don't know, a thousands discussions about you practicing your Force magic in the house?"
"It's not magic, and yes we have, but this is different."
"Different...?"
"Well, I won't be flinging things at you."
"Right. Instead, I'll be flinging myself at you. Maybe not the best idea, Mouse."
"Dash, it's the only way I can practice. Colton said I could use this room."
"I don't believe he said those actual words. It was more along the lines of, if I catch you using this room, I will disown you and your idiot brother."
"Yeah, but since he doesn't actually own us, he can't do that. And the room is empty, see? He said himself that it was his old office space that he deserted when he built the addition. His new office is the size of our entire apartment. So, I can't get into too much trouble in an empty room, can I?"
"Tanner, you and I can get into trouble doing our laundry."
I always had to work hard to convince my brother to let me practice Force exercises on him. He wasn't usually a willing partner, for good reasons, but I was right in that he was the only person I could practice with. Only a handful of people knew I was a Jedi...or former Jedi. And those people were either my 'family' or they were paid enough by Colton to keep their mouths shut and maybe didn't care anyway what I was.
Since I'd survived the Jedi Purge, I had worked hard to keep in training as much as possible. Everything I had learned as a youngling, everything I had learned from my Master Ayden and then the few things that Ben Kenobi had taught me. All were important.
Lightsaber drills were out. I'd only ever done that once and that was when Ben took us to a protected cave on Tatooine. Since I never ever traveled with my own lightsaber, Ben had lent me his and he used the saber of his dead master, Qui-Gon Jinn. Ben had told me he was taking a great risk in the two hour sparring session, but he wanted me to keep some of the skills I had been taught years ago...in case I did ever have use my own weapon to defend myself or those I loved.
Other than that, lightsaber training was not a thing; but other Force exercises were. When we were initiates, we learned about Force barriers or Force shields. It was a blocking mechanism to impede others weaker in the Force than you were, or to deflect a few energy blasts. Each Jedi had their own capabilities and I often struggled with mine. Master Ayden had helped me strengthen my power, but without consistent training and quality time to practice on my own, my abilities had suffered in the years since his death. I was thirteen now, but well behind where any other thirteen year old padawan would be at this point...had the Jedi not been killed off.
So here I was, working on my Force shield again. Ben had given me some pointers during my last visit months ago, but I hadn't followed through as I'd promised him I would. Various reasons, mostly school that just...got in the way. That and without daily guidance and encouragement and testing and...the presence of my Master...no longer was being a fully trained Jedi my sole focus in life.
That brought me to practicing when I had the time and want. Like now. With Dashen to help me. Reluctantly.
"What exactly is it that you feel the need to practice right now?"
"My Force shield."
"Force field?"
"Shield."
Dashen sighed loudly at me. Impatient. "What the hell is a Force shield?"
"It's a barrier that Jedi create around themselves that can help fend off attackers...to an extent."
"To an extent. That sounds somewhat useless for a former Jedi who was only an apprentice for two years."
I stepped to the other side of the room, setting myself up for Dashen to rush toward me at top speed. Warming up my body with some basic katas, I explained further to my brother. "It's a very basic Force exercise. We start learning it as younglings. By the time we are early teenagers and well into our apprenticeship, it would have become very effective in warding off initial blaster fire or preventing flying objects from hitting us. It's a defensive tactic."
"You mean like the data-pad that you throw at my head? You could fend that off?"
"Exactly. Now you understand."
"Yeah. Sure. Call it what want. But you can only use it if you see an object or know it's coming at you. Caught off guard and it's useless."
"Right. From what I can tell, it's a big part of why and how the Jedi were killed. Caught off guard by clones that were supposedly on our side. The Jedi never expected friendly fire and by the time the blaster fire turned against them, it was too late for defense."
"Makes sense, but what's the point in you using it?"
"You get into tons of trouble, Dash."
"I do, but you usually aren't with me when that happens. Unless you want to give up your boring life of loving school way too much and start running jobs with me."
I laughed. "No chance. I love school."
"It's what I just said."
"And you steal for a living. That's not..."
"I know, I know, your whole Jedi code thing."
"Well, it's mostly that you tend to get beat up a lot. Okay, that and I don't want or like to steal, but that's not the point of this conversation, Dash. I need help with practice, so just stand where you are and when I say go, you run at me and I'll block you with my invisible shield."
"Invisible shield. What is wrong with my life right now that I'm standing here in the empty room of a giant house owned by a criminal kingpin talking about magical shields and throwing objects at people for fun and practice."
Ignoring Dash's ramblings, I flailed my arms around and set myself up for him to attack.
"Okay. GO!"
And...he didn't. Just stood there looking stupidly at me.
"Dash, come on. Run at me. Go!"
Nope.
"Dash!"
"Tanner, this is idiotic, even for me. For us. What if you can't stop me and I run right over you?"
"You won't. I'll stop you or I'll bounce you off me. I've got this. Please give me just one chance to prove it. Ready?"
Finally he gave in. "Okay, fine. I'm ready."
"Go!"
He pushed full bore toward me as I focused all my strength into directing the Force around me...I felt it bond and wrap and then...Dashen ran right over me. I hit the floor hard. It hurt. Clearly I had done something wrong.
"Damn it, Tanner. I told you."
Dashen knelt down to me and made sure I was all right before violently yanking me off the floor.
"I...I did something wrong." I said to him, shaking it off.
"You think, Captain Obvious?"
I was ready to go again. "Try one more time, I think I got it. I didn't project outwardly enough or wait...maybe I tried to guide the Force instead of letting it guide me. Or...umm..."
"This is not instilling confidence in me, Mouse. You don't know what you did wrong, how can you fix it? I'd rather not run over you again."
Force...outward...guide...okay. Maybe...I was game for another try. "You won't Dash, I have it, it'll happen this time."
"Can't I just throw things at you and you fend them off?"
"No, it's better to be an actual attacking force coming at me for me to gather the strength until I learn this. And you're a terrible aim, so you'd probably just throw stuff ten feet over my head. Let's try again."
Sure, Dashen wasn't sold on my abilities or the Force or my training or my games, but he knew how important it was to me to keep at least a part of my Jedi training alive within me. To keep part of Master Ayden with me. So, he didn't walk out...yet.
He ran at me again and I called him off last second. I could feel him ready to slam into me and my barrier was not in place.
"Tanner, I feel like an idiot."
I opened my mouth to say something smart, but he stopped me.
"Don't even think about it. Is that enough practice for tonight? Colton is due home from his trip this evening. If he catches us in here..."
"It's an empty room, Dash, and I have to get this right. Let me try again. Go back over there," I said, pointing to the far wall. "All the way in the corner. Maybe you're not far enough away."
He ran at me. He ran over me.
"No, that wasn't it."
"I hurt you that time, didn't I?" Dash asked as he ran an injury check over my face and head, since I'd landed on them.
"Just a little."
"Tanner, this really is stupid. Here, wait." Hurrying out of the room and then back in, Dashen held a small pillow in his hands. "Let's try my idea. I toss the pillow at you and you block it or whatever the hell you're supposed to do. Maybe you're biting off more than you can chew. Did Ben throw his body toward you when you practiced at his hovel?"
"Well...no. He kind of...he used your idea."
If I wasn't his brother and he didn't love me, Dashen would have strangled me at that moment. Thankfully, I was and he did, so it saved me.
"And Colton calls me the idiot. Damn it, Tanner. Can you please perfect what Ben actually taught you before having me hurl human bodies in your direction?"
I sighed and leaned back against the wall. Disappointed. I'd done so well with Ben that I thought I could jump to the next step even though he'd warned me against it more than once. I promised him I would listen. That I wouldn't fail his training.
I really was an idiot.
Dashen saw me inwardly punishing myself and stepped closer. "Stop berating yourself, Mouse. You didn't fail Ben or Ayden or you. You are trying too damn hard. Small successful steps get you to your destination a lot faster than giant failed steps do. Can we please practice with the pillow? For once, I would love to be the one to hurl objects at your face. So this would be a really fun game for me. Come on, please?"
My brother had the ability to make me laugh when I didn't want to. Like now. He would enjoy throwing things at me; revenge of sorts for being the guinea pig in my Force guidance training since we'd come to be family.
I agreed to his plan. "Okay. You're right. You know, that happens once a year at least. You being right."
"Hilarious."
"When I say go, softly toss the pillow to me, okay? Ready. Go!"
The pillow loped gently in my direction, but dropped several feet short of it's destination. Not my doing.
"Dash, that was embarrassing. Come on, at least throw it far enough to reach me. Go!"
This next time, better. I pulled the Force to and around me, wrapping it in a layer like we'd learned as children and as other's had reinforced with me. The smaller, lighter object allowing me better time to focus. I pushed both hands out in front of me and toward the pillow. It stopped a few inches from my face and dropped silently to the floor. I let out a whoop of joy.
"Yes! It worked!"
Dashen smiled big as he retrieved the pillow. "Nice job, Mouse. Told you. Come on, try again."
I did. More success. Dashen tossed the pillow faster each time; and each time it bounced off my shield. The final couple of tries, instead of throwing it, he raised the pillow over his head and in the manner of slicing downward and pretending to use the pillow as a weapon to attack me, he brought the pillow toward my head while still under his full control. The pillow bounced off my Force shield each of the three times.
I did it! I had it! Dashen was right. Small steps. I should have remembered better from Master Ayden and Ben. Both always told me to go slowly, easy steps, perfect the basics until you know them with your eyes closed and then backwards and forwards and over and over and over again. Ben even mentioned that Qui-Gon had kept him in basic lightsaber moves until he was seventeen so that he would have that solid foundation when all else failed. Perhaps this was much the same thing.
Finally I was understanding.
"Let's call it a day, Tanner, all right?"
"I did good, Dash."
"You did, little brother. Did your Jedi training proud. Keep your focus on that - as I said, I'll be glad to throw things at you all day long - and then one day when you know that you're ready, then you move to bodies being launched in your direction. Plenty of time to learn all those fun and exciting things."
Grabbing the pillow, I moved toward the door and bashed right smack into a large body that I was certain would never be hurling itself at me for Force practice. Colton was home. He'd caught us in the room that he'd told us to 'stay the hell out of'.
My forward progress was halted immediately. Dashen rammed into my back, walking too close, unable to stop in time. My face plastered into Colton's chest, I said in a mumbled voice, "Hi Colton. How was your trip?"
Being grabbed by the back of the collar and physically lifted up and away from the object that you bashed into...it's quite painful. And when your brother is directly behind you, tumbles over and then you fall over him and land in a tangled mess...well, I guess we'd earned it.
Well tanned with his long blonde, almost white, hair hanging wildly over his face, Colton looked exhausted...and not amused.
"I'm out of the house for a week and you manage to do how many things I told you not to? This room is only the first, I would imagine. Dashen, keep your trap shut, Tannerlin, why are you in this room?"
I didn't often lie. It wasn't a necessarily a Jedi thing. Jedi did lie when they had to, or perhaps it would be better to say they stretched the truth, but I was always taught that it's easier to just get the truth clean out rather than trying to keep up with the falsehoods later. So, I didn't often bother with lies. Colton of course knew I wouldn't lie to him, which is why he asked me and not my brother.
Untangled now, and sitting on my butt looking up, "This is all my fault, Colt. I swear and I'm sorry. I wanted to practice a Force exercise and didn't want to do it in a room where I could break things. You told us to stay out of this room, but it's empty and the worst I could do was hurt myself here, not the room. Dashen had nothing to do with it, he even warned me. I didn't listen. I'm sorry."
Colt glared from me to Dash. "You see, Dash? That is how you admit to screw ups. Not lying your brain out for three days trying to cover your own tracks. It doesn't excuse anything, but honesty is appreciated. Thank you, Tannerlin."
"You're welcome?"
"You're still in trouble though."
"I know."
It was then that Dashen decided to jump into the fire with me. "Colt, listen, yes, this was all the kid's fault, but this room...there's nothing here. You never use it anymore. It just takes up space. Literally. Maybe..."
"Maybe, I'll just let you two expand your hold on my expensive hard-earned house and start moving your lives into the main living space instead of your small apartment?"
Dashen shrunk down a bit beside me. "Well, not exactly the way I was thinking it, but okay. What I was actually thinking..."
"I know what you are thinking." Colton began, his irritation beginning to lesson. He was the one doing the thinking. I could see it in his eyes, calculating something there... "Yes." He eventually said.
"What?" My brother and I asked in synchronized unison.
"Yes, you can have the room."
"What?" We repeated. Mouths open. Eyes squinted. Dumbfounded.
"You can have...you can use the room on a couple of conditions."
"What?" Together again. Yes, we were still stunned.
"First, that you stop saying 'what' and staring at me like idiots."
Done. We closed our mouths and shook away the confusion.
"Tannerlin, I know you need a place to use from time to time for your practice. I've seen you hurling things at your brother and I've heard objects breaking and hitting walls. It's not normal. This room is empty and unused. I have no plans to utilize it for anything at this point. So. You may use it on these conditions. That you do not damage the floors or the walls. That you vacate it at a moment's notice if I tell you to do so. Dashen, if you bring Jayla in here, I will personally remove a part of your body that you do not want to lose."
"Ouch." Dash flinched.
"If you move objects into the room, you remove objects out of the room when you are finished using those objects. And you will not use the room when I am home. Not ever. Especially not when I have...company. Agreed? Agreed. Good."
I dragged myself off the floor and ran to Colton to hug him. He probably expected it, knowing my affinity for hugging the people that I cared about. And since I really only had three of those people in my life...
"Okay, fine. Get off me, kid. It's an empty room. Not worthy of a hug."
"It is, Colton" I said, backing away. "Thank you. This means a lot. It does. And I promise we will obey all the rules...not like what we did tonight. Is the room soundproof?"
I knew what I had in mind. Unfortunately, so did he. "No. No lightsaber use in this room. That's the last condition. Just because it has no windows does not mean it's safe for you to be flailing that thing around. All you need is one person to see or hear it or even hear about it, and your life goes from comfortable to running for the rest of it."
That answered that question. "I understand."
"Dashen?" Colton turned again to my brother as Dash stood next to me.
"I agree to all your terms. To be fair though, seriously, what the hell would Jayla and I do in a room with no furniture or..."
Colton grunted out an exasperated breath. "Please do not continue that thought. I'm being nice to you both this evening. Don't ruin it. For once, just do what I ask."
Dashen went to say something else stupid, but I grabbed his arm and with a little help from the Force, pulled him with me, past Colton and towards our apartment.
He smacked the back of my head as we stumbled up the stairs. "Moron. Getting me in trouble."
"I told him the truth and it worked, we got the room." I shoved his shoulder.
"You got the room. I'm just an innocent passenger on this Jedi ship of crazy you keep taking me on." He whapped my head again.
"I know." I then said fondly, as we reached our apartment and prepared to go to our separate bedrooms. "But I'm glad to have my big brother on the journey with me."
"Damn Jedi," he murmured. "Get some sleep, you've got school tomorrow and I've got work. See you in the morning, Mouse."
"Want to try and pillow thing one more time?"
"Bed. Now." He ordered. I had spent the first nine years of my life taking orders and obeying them. It was instilled in me and hadn't yet been broken. Part of me still wanted that structure, still wanted to obey...and did.
But not before one more thing.
I ran to Dashen, hugged him quick, turned and ran to my room, laughing the entire way.
END
