Solork Tan, Gank without a pack, student without a teacher, and aspiring Jedi without a saber was troubled. The events of earlier in the day had shaken him. There was so much to process that the only thing he could think to do was to set down, and work with his hands.

He had been thinking of the design for a long time now, thinking about the construction of Arwen's saber when he had first broken it down. The design was so simple when you got down to it, so why couldn't it be changed? Obtaining the parts had been another story, and one particular merchant had near driven him to apoplexy on one particular component that he needed but the rest...Sol felt that he could craft himself. Basic tubing was easy enough to come by, and threading it meant that sections could be unscrewed for easy maintenance, but that just seemed to lack for something so meaningful. And if meaning was what he was after, the grotto was full of it.

The half dead tree had plenty of dried out roots and branches, giving the Gank plenty of wood. With a blowtorch and chisel he heated the piping and burned it through the wood sections, giving it a tight fit around the metal. He carved the surface of the wood with intricate whorls before scorching the wood with a blowtorch to waterproof it.

He was called to the city for a bit, and running around on rooftops was a welcome relief to the work, allowing him to come back with fresh eyes.

Next came fit up, placing the components into the sections in order and screwing them back on. In the end, the Gank had a pole.

"It should work..."

But the Gank still frowned.

"I'm going to try again tomorrow if I get the chance"

D5-Sacrament of Crafting-Pole Lightsaber Crafting-Difficulty Hard Mechanics-Boost from tools, Boost from Inventor talent, boost from grotto: 1eP+2eA+3eB+3eD 2 successes, 2 threat

Exhausted, Sol holds up the crystal he had fought so hard for earlier. A year of work, exposing himself to darkness that he had never forseen.

"I never expected this. I was so sure...but that's how they get you. The Gank sighs. "Oh well. I guess redemption is impossible. It's a sunk cost fallacy to keep going. "

The Gank pulls out a hammer from his kit and brings it down to smash the crystal.

With the first crash of the hammer the crystal bounces against the surface, cracks in it's form, but it yet holds tight. Seeping from within he feels that coldness emanating from it.. a sound like wailing just touching on the ear as if it was deep within the core of the crystal.

"I had hoped for more, in the sense of becoming something new, but this isn't it. It's more of the same. And I would prefer someone else put me down were I ever to get this far gone"

The Gank strikes again.

"I doubt I can fix this, but I'll tell you: I'll end it"

As the crystal shatters the energies from within are released, rage, torment, each of them un-ending. With the words spoken, the emotional state he's in, the energies take to him as they disperse. That coldness seems.. invasive as it seeps within.

Hopeless.

That idea, that feeling, it cuts deep and feels truer than anything.

[Solork gains +5 Conflict, the crystal is destroyed]

Sol feels tears bead along his good eye. It certainly seemed that way right now. He lets the hammer slide from slackened fingers. He sits there, not moving.

"There is no emotion, there is peace" He stares up at the ceiling of the Grotto, voice dropping to a whisper.

"Alright universe. I'm ready to listen. Really listen. I know that I've given you reason not to believe me, but this time...it's not about making amends. It's about being the best I can be"

[Perception vs Average, two setback]

It's faint but Sol notices something

Grotto-Perception-Destiny spent-boost from environment: 1eP+1eA+1eB+2eD+2eS 1 success

A leaf falls from the tree.

Solork reaches to take the leaf as it falls, holding it gently. He studies it and looks up at where it came from.

Another leaf falls from the half-dead tree at the center of the grotto, and after that another. This continues for quite some time.

The Gank walks up and investigates the tree

"The plants reacted to my emotions before. Are you... Crying?

Sol places his hand on the trunk

Leaves merely continue to fall.

Sol reaches out with the Force, trying to see what the tree is trying to say. On a whim, he brings to climb it, thoughts turning to a distant and all too short childhood

"All this time? Were you calling to me, while I was too deaf to listen? That I was so absorbed that I couldn't understand what I had been around for weeks?"

The Gank nestles into a branch and is suddenly hit by the exhaustion of the day. "If you can talk in dreams, I'll be here"

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