trans_9 | Training, in various ways...

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Training, in various ways...

After a few days -- weeks -- however long he'd been here, Morgan had finally settled into what he considered to be an adequate training regimen, for those times when he wasn't needed in Medical.

As a general rule, he began his day in the Sensorium, shaping it in the image of the mountaintop dojo he favored. One lone building atop a peak in the midst of a mountain range, lacking walls so the cool, thin air could drift through as he ran through forms and katas. A path wound its way around the peaks, and the frigid springs that formed small lakes and streams that poured off the edges in grand waterfalls. Next to this path ran a series of poles on which he ran, or jumped, when his regimen called for that sort of exercise.

Training in a simulated environment like this was old hat.

After he finished there, it was off to the river, where he (with some effort) persuaded his plantsuit to retract till it resembled closer to a bathing suit than anything. For what felt, at least, like an hour or two, the Akashic stood motionless in the river, submerged up to his neck. Legs spread, arms out, and hair streaming behind him in the current, he meditated. Harmony and moving in tune with the universe were key to his philosophy, after all. The currents, the flow of water around his fingers and limbs, and the silence were magnificent for that sort of understanding.

Then, off to the W.I.T.C.H. bus! Since Kaya had so kindly allowed him use of its training facilities, he made good use of that offer. This section of his training he devoted to melee weapons -- primarily his sword, of course, but he allotted time for other swords, staffs, daggers and knives, and tonfa as well.

And last, perhaps the oddest of all training exercises if one didn't know that to the mind of an Akashic, all things are martial arts: Morgan returned to the sensorium, not to fight or exercise or run, but to play. Electric guitar in hand, voice lifted in defiance of his one-held belief that he simply sounded terrible, and whatever backing was necessary conjured by environment, he rocked out, mixing up from simple guitar covers to lead guitar and vocals in full songs.

That lasted until he was exhausted, satisfied, or -- admittedly -- hit hard enough by nostalgia that continuing became prohibitive. Then it was time to clean up, relax, and see what else he had to do.

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"Beats me." She would be that honest. What did she know about life, the way things flowed into themselves, all of that Eastern influency stuff?

"It's up to your pupil to find the answer anyway, right?'

"Oh yeah, everyone has their own road to walk, etc. etc." He waved a hand dismissively, water flicking around in all directions as he did so. "It's true enough that it's pointless. You start by walking a well-trodden path and learning it, and when you're ready to find your own way you will."

At least he knew that saying something like that would sound trite and totally overdone. "I have a tendency to walk my own path once I know the way into it. So what brings you out here anyway? I figure you'd be someplace else, like the Jedi temple or the statuary something."

"I have no interest whatsoever in that damn temple," he said, half-turning away before his glare ended up focused at her. Touchy, much? He forced out a breath and made himself relax. "I like meditating in the water. Like I said, it's more of a challenge for me."

That damn temple? That was new: in fact, Mindy had doubted there was really anything that could unnerve Morgan unless it was, like, some crazy killing spree murderer or something. The glare definitely through her off.

"What, did you have a bad experience with a Jedi or something?" Yes, Mindy might as well believe they exist on the ship too, which was really kind of cool. She was wondering what made meditating in the water so challenging, but that question could wait for this one.

"With a surprising number of them, if you must know," he said quietly. Whether they existed on the ship or not, he didn't know and didn't care to find out.

Mindy actually looked confused. "But aren't they supposed to be all about balance and the force and all of that stuff? I mean, you seem to be all about the kind of thing they'd be about. I don't mean to bring up bad shit or anything, but what would create bad blood?"

He stood silent in the water for a moment, current pulling his hair out in a long stream as he thought.

"Let me ask you something. Do you believe someone should be punished for what they did in a past life?"

That took her a few minutes to think of herself. One minute they were talking about Jedi's, the next they were talking about past lives. It was a heavy question too, now that she thought about it. But it was also an honest one.

"That depends, I guess. Considering what you've been talking to me about, I might say its bad to hold grudges. Then again, considering what I was up to when I was on Earth, I figure there are some things that have to be answered for, especially if that person hasn't changed."

"Completely new start," he clarified. "Like, the existence that is 'you' was taken out and put in a new body, started life all over. New experiences, everything. Would it be fair for someone to prosecute you for a murder you committed in this life, in your next one, for example?"

Hit Girl thought for a moment. "No, not really man. When you start a new life, its a new life. You can't go and punish someone for something they did back in another life. As far as I know, you should be allowed to do new things."

"Now say it was a new person, but the same body," he said. "No memory of the past. New personality. Nothing of the past self. Completely wiped, so it's a new person who just happens to be in the same body as the old one."

"How would anyone know its a new person?" Mindy asked. "I'm not saying people deserve a way out for that reason, but most people only go by their eyes: most do, in fact. Though if it was someone like a Jedi, I figure they wouldn't just go by sigh: they'd intuitively know when someone was different even in the same body."

"In this case, because the person their new personality was intended to mimic came back, and the deception was uncovered."

How's that for a grim answer?

"You're going to have to speak a little less vague. I'm not dumb, but next lives and Jedi's are kind of a big leap of faith," she said. "Because I'm trying to understand, believe me."

"One technique the Sith, apparently, used to infiltrate the Jedi Order was suppressing the memories and personality of a Sith completely, then replacing it with those of a Jedi they'd secretly killed. Classic sleeper agent. In the case I'm talking about, two things went wrong. They suppressed the original memories and personality so well they were pretty much gone forever, and the Jedi in question wasn't dead."

He tried to explain all this calmly, but really it was just flat. The alternative was bitter fury, which no one wanted.

"Wait, that's really messed up. It sounds like what you're saying is that they were able to impersonate other Jedi by acting out their personalities and stuff. But you're saying that this time they wound up choosing a Jedi that wasn't dead, and messed up with suppressing themselves."

Ok, fine. "How do you fit in?"

Quite simply, Morgan said, "She was my wife."

"Oh."

Well damn. No wonder he didn't give the whole "poor little girl" shit she got from people when she talked about her dad: he had a pretty bad thing happen to him too, by GOOD GUYS.

"And they killed her."

"They ordered her execution for the deeds that the Sith that had once inhabited her body had done," he clarified. "And she agreed to it. Neither she nor they could accept that she was not the person who had done it. Guilt on her part, fear on theirs."

"Oh," Hit Girl said, and could feel the quiet rage of his that he fought so hard to keep under the surface. She knew that kind of rage, all right: she hadn't lost one but both parents on her world, and after finally winning her life back, she was brought here. It was as if she were literally robbed of her childhood, and the truth was? A part of her hated that: she couldn't like this other kids did, couldn't just sit and play without analyzing it, without knowing the mask wasn't her as Hit Girl, but as Mindy. That was what she was still trying to learn, and she kept that to herself.

"I don't think there are any more Jedi on the ship, actually, or I would have silently geeked out a little about it. But they were gone long before I got here, I think. But I figure even a place like that has its own sort of mysticism to it. The only thing I think that can dirty a sect is the cowardice and the selfish shit the members do, not the thing it tries to stand for."

"For all their talk about feeling no anger or fear... they felt both, and condemned an innocent woman to death because of it," he said. "It's probably a good thing I haven't crossed paths with any. Not all of them agreed with it, though," he added quickly. "Some of them saw it the way I did. I shouldn't paint them all with the same brush."

"Nah, everyone is different, and as far as I know, after time, when you become a good and established order, you tend to become comfortable and shit with that. Once you have to deal with something that actually shakes your moral code and might demand you set a president, people get lazy. It's been like that with a lot of religious groups in my world. It's why I stay away from pretty much all of them."

"I'm a little better about it these days, but not over it. She was at peace with it, when it all happened; that helped me, in turn." He grinned. "So long as I stay out of serious relationships, things should get better from here."

"I can see how you wouldn't get over it. There are some grudges you can't let go, no matter what happens. Some grudges you carry until you make sure they're answered for. But why let that stop you from having other chicks to care about?"

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