Experiment: The Ravager Code

Learning

"Just summon it." Yondu ordered, gesturing outward with his hand, then folding it back over his chest where his arms were crossed.

"What does that mean?" Tess turned back to him, standing in the middle of the training hall, her face a mix of confusion and unease.

"The power; summon it. Make it do what you want."

"I don't know how..." she started to wring her hands, nerves suddenly picking up. "It's... I don't plan for it to happen when it does it just—It just does."

"Bullshit. You used it against those boys twenty minutes ago."

"Yeah, but that was different."

He stepped around her, tilting his chin up. "Different how?"

She blinked, trying to find the answer to that... but couldn't.

He sighed through his nose, his eyes softening as he put his hand briefly on top of her head. "All that doubt's only gonna give you problems you don't need. You can control it, we both know that."

She stared up at him a few moments, then looked down, letting her hands loose at her sides. She nodded slowly. "Okay... alright. Tell me what to do."

"I already told you, girl, summon the power."

Tess decided not to ask again how she was supposed to do that, and turned around, lifting her fists up to the sides of her chest. She breathed in, then out, screwing her eyes shut and trying so hard to get them to shift... to do anything.

Not even a glint of silver.

She kept trying, pressing her lips together and flexing her fingers in and out. Clenching her arms so tight they cramped slightly. "I can't do it." she said in an exasperated exhale she had been holding. "I don't know how."

Yondu nodded, pacing around slowly, a hand drifting to his chin. "I don't believe that. You've proven otherwise multiple times now."

"I'm trying," she exposed her palms to him, (still her same skin, even if the past week or so she had gained some color to it) turning to show through her eyes that she really was trying. "I just don't know how to trigger it. I'm not trying to protect myself right now."

He scratched at his beard. "Were you protecting yourself against Kraglin?"

"Well, no..."

"Then how were you able to get it to happen?"

"'Cause I was thinking about how much I wanted to impress them, I guess."

He put his hand back down and said simply, "Stop thinkin'."

"What?" Her face was a mask of confusion.

"You're gettin' in your own head, nothin's gonna happen the way you want it to if you don't focus on what it is you really want to happen."

She processed, blinked, then said slowly, "I don't... I don't understand."

He gave her a pointed look, lightly pointing at her chest. "That's where your control comes from. Not your head, that's full of instinct, your heart is where your ability to control yourself comes from." Tess looked down, seeming to chew it over, her brow tightening in consideration. "Last night, you did what you did when?"

She looked back up, suddenly more confident in herself. "When they said they were gonna kill you."

He nodded slowly. "But not before. Why?"

"Because... because I was starting to wonder if maybe you'd be better off if they did just take me, then they wouldn't want you no more. You'd be safe."