|
|
|
|
last online Jun 4, 2023 4:58:38 GMT -5
Master
|
|
|
May 2, 2010 16:22:46 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on May 2, 2010 16:22:46 GMT -5
((for Rugs "Locke" and FZ's "Jazen" only))
She had kept the lights off in the training room for a reason. It was a…peculiar…reason to say the least, after all, how many people (especially jedi) believed in reincarnation or having memories from someone else’s life? It was one of the most absurd thoughts ever…even Ryn hadn’t believed it when she’d told him about it…not until she’d shown him. What did any of this have to do with the lights being off? The answer was simple really: just like it was easier to see a holovid or other projection in the dark, it was also easier for her to fully grasp the images of these memories in the dark. No one else would be able to see them…not physically anyway…but she could, and she wanted to. She wanted to see what these visions, memories, were about…to catch every detail and burn it into her mind. That was why the young knight now stood, her posture straight and proud, in the dark with Talon unlit in her hand, Helluin clipped to the back of her belt. Those eyes, ever shifting in their color, slid closed allowing her senses to expand out as she felt the flow of the force around her. Settling her mind, she submerged herself in the living force, the feelings and thoughts and emotions of the jedi, the temple, the planet, the galaxy…taking in anything that the force brought her…until it slowly started to shift and swirl around her mind.
The dark cool and stillness of the room slowly became the warm feeling of the sun on her face and the wind in her hair…the (now familiar) backdrop of that glistening alabaster temple, its strange silver symbol embedded at the top of it and along the top of the walls surrounding it, forming solidly in her mind. She turned her head to see the legion of armor clad warriors behind her…metal armor, leather armor, combinations of the two, all looking tired but determined as if they’d been through hell and back, but were still willing to go through more. She could feel the force flowing, radiating out from them, burning in their hearts as they braced themselves…these men and women weren’t jedi…but they felt so similar, so familiar in heart and mind and her heart ached for them, filling with pride and regret. Talau wasn’t sure how, but somehow…somehow she had let them down, and though she longed to make amends, she knew she couldn’t…not as this person, the one who’s memories she was sharing.
Banners waved here and there among them, rippling in the winds that were picking up…and then the drums started. Those deep drums that made the heart want to cringe and the soul shrink away. As she looked back to what was in front of her, she caught sight of the armor she was wearing, leather and metal studded, easy to move in. The emblem, the symbol etched into her necklace showing clearly on the bright silver of the breastplate…a detail she’d not noticed before. Stoically she waited, listening to the battle drums and deep sounding war horns calling in the distance, and her chin lifted slightly, those eyes shading a deep purple, laced with gold and silver as she feel the courage and refusal to bow down to these would-be war lords rise up in her.
No longer did she resist the memories as she once had, attempting to push them from her mind…instead she embraced them and wrapped them around her, making them her whole world for the duration of time that they lasted. She knew who and what she was now, thanks to Seri, and she knew her responsibility to her people…especially now that she had faced one of her own that was a sith. Those eyes slid open once more, seeing only those memories, the dark practice room a distant memory as her heart raced in her chest at the sight of the crimson and gold banners appear in the distance, the numbers of the opposing army far outnumbering their own. The armor and scale covered beasts they rode neighing loudly and stepping high, as any battle mount should, great draconic beasts appeared in the air behind them, the riders whooping and calling to their mounts or each other, large lion-like creatures walking here and there among the opposing ground forces, their manes and tails flickering and flaming in the mid-day sun. As the opposing army came to a halt, and the drums silenced themselves, a deadly silence resounded around them, between them…she could see the reds, oranges, yellows….blacks….of the auras of those across from her. Lightsabers, shotos, pikes, every saber type imaginable all sizzled to life in the garish colors dark jedi were so well known for. Others rattled regular swords and spears and axes and clubs against their shields loudly, those behind her and their allies remaining silent and watching the show of supposed force until the din died away once more.
The tension rose around the area as both drew in on the force, like the intake of breath before the creation of the universe. No words were uttered, not a sound made as the entire planet seemed to hold its collective breath…even the horse-like steeds were silent and still, barely flicking an ear as the opposing forces of light and dark attempted to stare each other down. She reached behind her and pulled Helluin from her belt then tested her grip on her sabers, one in each hand, solid, steady…calm. The darkness called to her, begging her to use it for her power, to strengthen her…she had used it before…once more wouldn’t hurt…
--Not yet…--
The tides of the force began to shift around them.
--Not yet… --
She took a steadying breath, the material swaying along her back and over her shoulders snapping around her legs as she slowly, calmly, brought the force in to power her muscles for the long fight that awaited her.
--Almost… --
Had her child gotten away safely?...She hoped so…she didn’t have a good feeling about today. That babe was the only hope her people had left if she didn’t make it out of this alive.
--Now. --
Those twin sabers flickered and hummed to life, purple and silver-blue fires flaring to life as she heard the sound of dozens of their brothers sizzle to life behind her in a whirlwind of energy. The world blurred around her, and she was moving, both in the memory and life.
Within moments the two forces had clashed, bringing her back around to that first flicker of this memory she had ever had: the battlefield, a cacophony of color and sound.
Even as she came upon those first soldiers…former friends, former guards, former Feanturi…she wasted no time in cutting them down. This was not a time where she could afford to be lenient on those she knew, but fought against her. It tore at her heart, to recognize them only moments before pressing her saber up under their armor plates, allowing one saber or another to end their life…but she had people to protect, a way of life to restore….peace had to be returned to the planet…this had gone on too long already. Her goal was to get to the Morequai that were leading this army...most likely her brother. She could feel him there…not Latus, it wasn’t him, but the one that this woman…the woman who’s memories Talau was sharing…HER brother was behind this. Both the Contess and Talau could sense him. She had to get to him and end this here and now.
Talau wasn’t sure how long she fought, the memory always felt longer than it was, but passed in a blur of unintelligible motion, sense, and color. The scene became more and more gruesome the longer it continued, but Talau didn’t attempt to pull herself from it, not this time. She knew more, understood more, this time than she had previously…she had a duty to this planet and she knew that she had to have as much information about what happened on this day, in this memory, as she could. Finally she found herself before the man she sought…his face a shock to the young knight’s mind. The emotions of the memory weren’t shocked, but Talau certainly was…the man, this brother…he looked older, slightly different, but so horribly close to Latus…it was painful to her…especially with his recent disappearance from the temple.
Facing down this ‘brother’, Talau was also forced to face down a man who looked far to similar to her own kin for her own liking…but she had little choice. It was the same as facing down Aeron and Lopa…she’d had to do it for the good of others. Violet and Blue-silver sabers hummed around her as she worked to battle off this war lord, his anger and jealousy washing against her in heavy waves as they struggled against each other. His emotions were mirrored by her own anger and hurt as she ensconced herself in that Ataru form, leaping back from him as his golden orange saber sliced through the air where she had been only moments before. For a moment her vision was obscured by her own chocolate brown hair, her senses allowing her to catch his movements through the force as he swept around her to confront her at the end of that flip. One saber lashed out toward him, tossed skillfully to move him in the direction she wanted him to go in order to avoid it. With a thought that saber died out and she was left with Helluin in her hands, her posture straight and calm, confident in her abilities to ward off this man.
As he rolled out of the way of the saber she’d flung at him, she moved in swiftly, the blade slicing into his arm by millimeters before he moved away again. Time and again he would lunge at her, attempted to get in through her guard, time and again she would turn to allow him to fall past her, or barely move her wrist enough to deflect the blow away from her again and then strike back at him. He wouldn’t have any of that, however, as those black eyes laced with acid green honed in on her own attempting to grapple with her mentally and slow her down. Shunting his efforts away she flipped backward, then to the side to avoid his strikes at her mid section and legs. There was one oddity though…she didn’t even bother using the force to aid her movements except to help speed them. Unlike most Ataru practitioners…or most jedi in general…Talau had been taught first to allow her own body to initiate the motions with no help from the force, allowing her to keep her reserves.
The brother kept pushing her, though, forcing her back into the thick of the battle where she would have less room to maneuver. With another thought, her saber had been called back into her hand and lit, needing it to keep him at bay, the heat of the sun making her exhaustion from the long fight compound itself. The more he pushed her the more desperate she became, having to turn away from, or more around, other battling Rilan to keep from being injured further herself. Nearing her limits she felt the shift coming upon her…Talau didn’t even bother acknowledging the warning. If it was going to happen, it would happen…but the grin on the man’s face knew he would press the advantage if she did. Others around her had already been forced into this ‘true form’, their wings and auras glistening brightly around them as they fought. Then she felt the call of the darkness…
If she only just used it…just for a moment…she could win against him like she had Aeron.
For a moment she considered it, feeling the tendrils of that dark power wrapping around her like black shadows, hoping to take hold. No one would have to know that she had given in…no one would fault her…it was survival. It was her life on the line. Even the Grand Master couldn’t find fault with her for using it if it was the only way to keep herself alive…
No.
Fighting fire with fire wasn’t going to work here…it would only prove that this man, this man and his darkness could win…
Though, it was obvious which side was losing…and it wasn’t the darkness…not this time, not in this world…
The sudden and sharp pain through her back made her bite her clench her jaw to keep from making any sound of pain as her bones and muscles burned and her skin itched. Even in the vision she could see her skin slowly infuse with a golden sheen, feel the wings begin to form along her back and start to press through the skin…but the process was interrupted as his saber burned through her, just below her solar plexus. Those eyes widened for a moment only, before narrowing down at him again.
“Did you really think you could win against me, sister…My DEAR Talau? You were very wrong if you did. You will NEVER take this planet back…not you, nor any of your line. Rilia is OURS now, and we will hunt your offspring until they are dead…no matter how long that may take. Die knowing THAT…Contess.”
With a gasp the saber was wrenched from her body and her mind thrown from the vision, leaving her panting and horrified at what she’d seen. Never before had she seen his face…heard those words…it was a horrible revelation, and the fear that the former Contess had felt coiled around her heart. Talau, her name had also been Talau? There had to be some mistake…
Those sabers were extinguished and held loosely at her sides as she mulled over the vision, still panting and so lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t so much as sense the others near by.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rugs
The ring-dang-doo, now what is that?
6,347 posts
1,102 likes
Friendly neighborhood CEO
|
|
last online Jan 12, 2024 11:24:20 GMT -5
Administrator
|
|
|
May 2, 2010 19:16:59 GMT -5
Post by Rugs on May 2, 2010 19:16:59 GMT -5
"Come on, Jazen, time for sparring practice." Locke led his student out of one of the mess halls within the Jedi Temple, and off through the many corridors that would take them to a room. He sighed wearily as he walked and stuck his hands into the pockets of the long coat he'd taken to wearing recently. A great many things had been weighing heavily on the Knight's mind lately. Some of them were things almost all of the Jedi were concerned about--namely, things dealing with the growing war, and the Sith incursion into Republic space. But others were more personal.
Locke glanced at Jazen out of one of his stony grey eyes as he walked. The boy was only a few inches shorter than Locke himself was, and had a head of snowy white hair that made him rather easy to spot in a crowd. It would be fair to say that the root of most Locke's current worries was that boy. Those seeds had been planted a little while ago, on a trip to Umgul. It was supposed to be a normal mission. A simple mission. But, through certain events that had unfolded while they'd been going about their business, Jazen had found himself staring into the darkness, and, for the briefest of moments, he'd caved. He'd been too far gone to listen to reason, and so Locke found himself in actual combat against his own apprentice. He'd been able to talk Jazen back into sense, but the fact that, for a few moments, they'd been on different sides pained Locke more than he could say.
Locke had mulled over those events a great deal in the days since, and though he didn't speak much of it, he found that he wasn't sure what to do. He was used to rooting out criminals and things of that sort, not dealing with the threat of falling to the Dark Side. Yet, here he was, with an apprentice that'd danced with that very threat, and he was woefully unprepared to deal with it. He'd have to find some way to handle it, though, lest Jazen risk taking the plunge again, and more permanently. And Locke knew he'd never forgive himself if things came to that.
He shook his head to clear those thoughts away as he walked on, and was surprised to see they'd nearly come to their destination. He grunted softly under his breath. Apparently, he'd gotten so used to taking this particular route through the Temple that he didn't even really need to pay attention to it. How joyous. A few more paces down the hall, with a turn around a corner and another short walk down the next hall was all it took to get them to the door of the training room they frequented. "Well, let's get to it," Locke said as the door slid open, trying to put some of his usual cheer back into his voice.
In they went, though Locke was surprised to see that the room, which was dark, save the glow of two sabers, purple and bluish-silver. And in the center of the dark room was Talau Firians, a fellow Jedi Knight. But she did not notice the entry of the other two Jedi, or if she did, she gave no sign of it. No, she was fully immersed in whatever it was she'd been doing, and her blades swung around her gracefully as she moved about, as if working her way from one foe to another. "Oh, Talau," Locke started, "I didn't mean to distrub-" His eyebrows furrowed at a feeling within the Force. Something was emanating from Talau, though what it was, he couldn't say. So, at the risk of being considered nosy, which might get him a tongue lashing--one of which he'd already been on the receiving end of from this particular Knight--Locke reached out to the Force, and let its sweet warmth flow into him.
The plan had been to probe out gently to see if he could discern what exactly was going on in Force, but, as luck would have it, he didn't even need to search out. One moment he was standing there-
And the next he was under the burning sun of some world he did not know, fighting some man he'd never seen in his life. The heat was nearly unbearable, and the heavy metal armor he wore pressed down, taunting his weary muscles to just give in and let up so that he could fall to the ground-
What the hell? Locke didn't have a clue what it was he'd just seen, but it was unnerving, to say the least. What was tha-
The Contess. He had to help the Contess. He ran forward, using the great silver and green-streaked wings that spouted from his bare torso, which was cut in numerous places and streaked with blood, to push himself into the air for a moment, over the head of an enemy. But a tendril of the Force laced around his ankle, and he slammed into the ground, screaming as a bone within his left wing snapped under his weight-
Suddenly, it was gone.
That feeling within the Force ebbed to nothingness, and the room grew still as Talau came to a stop. Locke's mind was reeling as it searched in vain for some explanation of the flashes he'd seen, but it found nothing. His hand went up to wipe a thin sheen of sweat away from his forehead before he glanced at Jazen again, to see if they padawan had had any sort of similar reaction.
The silence lingered on for a few moments longer as he waited for Talau to say something. But she did not, and seemed too wrapped up in her own thoughts to pay them any mind. So Locke decided to speak up instead. "Talau," he said warmly, "it's, uh... good to see you again."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jazen
Beelzaboot
1,617 posts
86 likes
Rocking from the Great White North
|
|
last online Apr 20, 2022 19:46:47 GMT -5
Master
|
|
|
May 2, 2010 20:30:56 GMT -5
Post by Jazen on May 2, 2010 20:30:56 GMT -5
As his Master rose to leave the mess hall, indicating for him to follow, Jazen rose in silence. He drifted to his Master's side, then fell into a step or two behind him, not wanting to meet his Master's gaze at the moment. His master's sigh caused him to look up at him for a brief second, then he returned his gaze to the floor ahead of him. Even if Locke did not intend to do so, his worry was projected through the Force and at this distance, it was if Jazen was feeling that worry himself. And it just added on to his own concerns, adding an even greater weight to his heart.
As they traveled in complete silence towards one of the temple's many training rooms, Jazen let his mind wander to the reason for both his worry and most likely his masters. A short while ago, they had headed to Umgul alongside another Jedi Knight to investigate a string of kidnappings on the planet. Jazen had sensed from the moment they entered the planet's atmosphere that something was wrong but he hadn't been able to determine what. It didn't take them long to find out though, as shortly after their mission began, it feel apart. A trio of Dark Jedi ambushed them, taking them captive with the intention of interrogating them for information. The fact that they had been so easily taken captive didn't help the matter.
It was in this interrogation that Jazen did something he never thought he could do. In fact, most of it was a blur to him. Seeing that the two older knights were better trained, the trio had chosen to use Jazen, not only as a possible site of information, but as a scapegoat to try and force the other two to talk. To this end, they employed a variety of torture, physical and mental in nature. People spoke of what happened when a Jedi probed hard into a strong mind, of the damage it could do. He doubted many had three do it at the same time, three who intended to do damage. They had used burning, whipping, beating, just about every kind of torture they could think off. And Jazen had endured it, had held onto the Force for strength. But he wasn't as strong as his master or the other knight; he was still young and learning. And they finally did break him. Just not in the way they had expected.
During their tactics, they had accidentally weakened one of his bindings. They took their eyes and their senses off him for a second, just a second, and he had taken it. He remembered rage and anger bursting from him, the binding's snapping away like paper, his saber flying to his hand. But then everything turned to a blur. Voices were lost to him, friend and foe no longer distinguishable. The hate, the anger, the power, it flowed into him like a dam opening up for the river. And he had liked it. Then something snapped its way into his mind, someone forced him to wake from the taste of the power. When he followed the voice, he found himself standing in the middle of the room over two of the Dark Jedi, the third laying injured beside his master and Gabe. He didn't even have a chance to understand what had happened before he passed out from the exhaustion that took him.
He had been filled in after and what he had done frightened him. He had snapped, had opened himself to the Dark Side. And he had killed the two Dark Jedi without mercy and without hesitation. And he'd done it, for a brief moment, with a smile on his face. And he had attacked his master, had attacked Gabe as well. By chance, his master had managed to break through his armor of pain and anger, to reach the boy still within. But his touch with the dark side remained firmly in his mind, the taste of its power slinking in the back of his mind. He had fallen, if only for a few moments. And he felt it could happen again. What hurt him the most was that he had not only failed himself, but he had failed his master. What would he done if he had hurt him...or even killed him? Jazen shuddered at the thought.
So lost in his thoughts Jazen was that he almost walked straight into his masters back, the older Jedi standing in the entryway to the training room. Moving around the older Jedi, Jazen looked into the dark room, lit only by the glow of twin lightsabers and now the light of the open door. Inside stood a woman, one who looked to be around his Master's age. Jazen was stunned for a moment, taken back by the beauty the woman had, and by the warm feeling of the Force he felt from her. She danced around the room, lightsabers swinging, fighting a foe that only she could see. Her movements were fluid, artful, with a grace that truly showcased the true skill of Ataru. Jazen knew the form he practiced could be artful, but it was his first time seeing someone perform it to confirm that.
Watching her, Jazen calmed himself, allowing his being to soak itself into the Force. He wasn't as good as some Jedi at sensing things, but he hoped he would have enough to maybe see what the woman was fighting. His master had seen fit to do the same and Jazen noticed sweat beginning to form on his brow. Opening himself up, Jazen focused on the woman... and was almost knocked off his feet by the flood of emotions that hit him. Shock, love, hate, anger, despair, desperation, all of these ran into him like a train running into a wall and Jazen broke free from it, grabbing his head with his right hand in pain. Although it wasn't uncommon to sense a wide variety of feelings from various people, running into one single person who emitted them so strongly was new to him.
Realizing that the woman had stopped, Jazen looked to his master, who was wiping the sweat from his forehead, a brief look of exhaustion showing on his face. He must have seen more than he had, which slightly disappointed Jazen. He would have to ask Locke to show him how to use his senses more later, when they figured out what to do with their current dilemma. He met his Master's gaze, then turned it back on the woman, who stood silent in the middle of the room. After a few moments of quiet, Locke finally spoke. The name Talau didn't ring a bell to Jazen, but that much did not surprise him. He didn't know many of the other Jedi and he most certainty would have remembered her. So he waited quietly beside his master, arms at his side, for Talau to speak.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online Jun 4, 2023 4:58:38 GMT -5
Master
|
|
|
May 3, 2010 20:27:29 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on May 3, 2010 20:27:29 GMT -5
Even as she allowed her mind to calm once more and pulled in her presence, wrapping it about herself like a cloak, her senses were swiftly readjusting to the real world surrounding her.
“Talau it’s, uh…good to see you again”
Obviously they weren’t readjusting swiftly enough…
Startled, the young woman jumped slightly and hurriedly turned to face the two standing in the doorway with wide eyes. The color of her eyes swiftly drained from that purple, gold and silver mixture to a startled light orange as she blinked at the two and blushed, grinning sheepishly for a moment and surreptitiously clipping her sabers back onto her belt. Clearing her throat, she shifted and gathered herself back together, pressing the embarrassment and mild fear from their “sudden” appearance down, allowing her eyes to settle back into their more ‘normal’ coloring of golden brown painted with greens and blues, like a sunflower shifting and moving against the backdrop of the evening sky.
Ah, Locke! Heh…hello. Good to see you again as well. I-um…well I suppose you saw a good deal of that by the looks you two are wearing.
Those eyes traveled from Locke to his padawan and back again.
How much of that did you see?
The question wasn’t quite as simple as it may have sounded. Certainly she was asking just what they’d seen physically, but someone seeing her practice wasn’t anything new…nor was it something to be embarrassed about. No, she was asking what of the vision they had seen…if they’d seen anything. Honestly she hoped they’d seen nothing, but if one of them had, she had some explaining to do, she was certain. The Shadow stood calmly enough, her presence drawn in until it was next to nothing, shielding her emotions, her thoughts, her very presence in the force...with her wits about her once more, she was back to her old habits, the camouflage having taken effect as soon as she’d spoken the first time. It was a good thing too…it would keep these two from knowing exactly how embarrassed she was at being caught in the middle of that vision.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rugs
The ring-dang-doo, now what is that?
6,347 posts
1,102 likes
Friendly neighborhood CEO
|
|
last online Jan 12, 2024 11:24:20 GMT -5
Administrator
|
|
|
May 3, 2010 21:32:09 GMT -5
Post by Rugs on May 3, 2010 21:32:09 GMT -5
A touch of Locke's usual cheer returned at the sound of Talau's voice, though it was a bit more subdued than it normally was. After all, though he wasn't focused on them at the moment, those same events that had been troubling his thoughts were still there, lingering on in the back of his mind. Worrying him. That kid's going to turn me grey, he thought with a quick glance to Jazen as he ran a hand absentmindedly through his dark brown hair. But, such thoughts were for later. For now, he'd focus on Talau.
Her presence withdrew as soon as she started talking, folding in around itself time and time again until Locke had to strain to find it. He wasn't sure why she did such a thing, but he didn't press; perhaps it was merely a habit of hers. It could certainly have its uses.
He nodded at her with a slight smile when she spoke to him, though his response was cut short when she asked how much he--and Jazen--had seen. "Well, uh..." He wasn't sure how to go about explaining what he'd seen, or how much to tell Talau. But then again, if the vision had been hers, surely she could make some sense of it, right? It wasn't as if he'd pried in, either. Not yet, anyway.
"Well, I'm not really sure what I saw, honestly. I reached out to the Force, and the next thing I knew, I was on some dusty world I've never seen in my life, in the body of some man I've never met, fighting against some other man." He made gestures with his hands as he spoke, like he was grasping out to try to better get a hold of what he was trying to explain. "There were men everywhere, like we were in some sort of battle. I was in armor. I think I saw a banner of some sort off in the distance...
"Then I was back in myself again. I was weirded out, as you might imagine." Locke laughed softly at that. "And before I could even start to try figuring out what was going on, I was in the body of some other man. I was running, trying to get to some woman..." He sighed and shook his head in irritation as he tried to remember what it was. "A countess, maybe? No, contess. Yeah, the contess. I was trying to get to her. I remember I had these huge green and silver wings, and I used them to go over some guy. And then I got pulled down." He winced a bit at the memory of the pain lancing through his wing when he landed. "I think I landed on one of the wings. It hurt."
He stuffed his hands idly back into his coat pockets as he shifted his weight from one foot to another. "I'm sorry if I intruded into something I shouldn't have," he added, remembering his first meeting with Talau, when he'd accidentally set her off with what he thought to be a harmless remark. "I didn't expect what happened to happen, though."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jazen
Beelzaboot
1,617 posts
86 likes
Rocking from the Great White North
|
|
last online Apr 20, 2022 19:46:47 GMT -5
Master
|
|
|
May 3, 2010 22:23:35 GMT -5
Post by Jazen on May 3, 2010 22:23:35 GMT -5
As Talau relaxed, returning from whatever world she had just been in a moment ago, Jazen pulled the Force in around him. He didn't want to experience that burst of emotions again, or at least not without warning. His head still hurt from the sudden surge that had filled him when he had touched her with the Force. His eyes stayed on her though, half examining her, half wary she might start up again suddenly. If she did, he wanted to make sure he didn't get caught up in it by accident.
Something caught his attention over everything else though. It was her eyes. He caught them for a moment before she turned away after noticing they were there, glowing orange. He could have sworn they were a different color when they had watched her perform her training, for lack of a better word. But when she turned back to them, they were golden brown, with green and blue mixed in.
When she did turn to them, her face showing calm and surprise all in one, Jazen slowly let the Force drift out from him to touch her presence again. To his surprise, he could barely feel it, much like that woman on Umgul. The thought of that mission shot back to the front of his mind for a moment before he slammed it back down, worried that both of them would sense his emotions that came with it.
As she asked them about what they had saw, Jazen initially assumed she meant her display of Ataru. But as Locke began speaking, Jazen suddenly realized it had been so much more. Since he didn't see what his Master obviously had, Jazen turned his gaze to him, listening intently. He spoke of being on a world he had never been, seeing it through eyes that weren't his, in a body that didn't belong to him. It was like he had been living another person's life, following the memory of an event long past. He had gone into that world twice, the second time he had tried to save someone he did not know. But the urge to find her had been so great he had believed it. And then he had fallen, had gotten hurt. And it had felt real to him.
As Locke finished, Jazen let out the breath he realized he'd been holding. And for a moment, he was jealous of his Master, jealous that he had been able to see so much while Jazen had seen nothing at all. He quickly shoved that thought aside when he realized he had seen it in a way, just not through images like his Master. Jazen realized what the surge of emotions he had received were in relation to. He got a glance from his master, indicating he was waiting for Jazen to speak about what he had seen. Nodding to him, he met Talau's gaze to answer her question.
"I must admit, I lack the sight that you have Master. But I felt the emotions that came with whatever battle you were in. I felt hate, anger, despair, shock, love and so many more. Not slowly, not gradually, but all at once. It was....overwhelming. I was only able to hold connection for a moment before having to break away. It was.....interesting, to say the least.
Having spoke what he needed to speak, Jazen broke his gaze away, embarrassed. He didn't know why; perhaps he just felt like he was standing between two masters of the Force and he was a blip in between them. Realizing how foolish he was, Jazen turned back to watch her. As his master apologized for their intrusion, Jazen realized he had not shown proper respect to her, nor introduced himself. Bowing his head to her, he chose his words carefully.
"I apologize for the intrusion as well, Master Talau. I'm Jazen Solari, Master Locke's apprentice and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online Jun 4, 2023 4:58:38 GMT -5
Master
|
|
|
May 4, 2010 22:26:13 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on May 4, 2010 22:26:13 GMT -5
Locke’s reply certainly wasn’t what she’d wanted to hear, but…she knew she couldn’t exactly fault him for it either. She couldn’t exactly control how much of that vision…that memory…she radiated, and so if he saw some of it, well, so be it. Turning those oddly colored eyes to Locke’s padawan, she nodded to his reply as well and sighed. Well…there was nothing for it now but to explain.
It was going to take a lot of explaining…
It’s alright, Locke, Jazen…you didn’t do anything wrong by it. I can’t control how much of those…memories…radiate out from me when I get them.
You did, in fact, see a battle…one that happened over two-thousand years ago. The planet is called Rilia, and the people you saw…they’re my people. It…that battle…was one of many in a planet wide civil war that shifted the balance of power from the Contess to the Morequai…dark lords…war lords…even today the battles still continue from what I know, though…the Morequai have a near iron grip on the planet as a whole. If the memory you rode had you attempting to help the Contess, you were one of the Feanturi…one of the order on that planet that helped further solidify the Jedi Order in it’s beginning years.
She paused a moment and sighed heavily, shaking her head, the blue in her eyes deepening but not quite chasing away the colors of the sunflowers within them. Looking back at them, she managed a small smile and walked up to Locke, putting one hand on his shoulder and the other on Jazen’s.
Not to worry, though…things will work out for them, I'm certain of it.
The glass pendant hanging in the hollow of her throat glistened innocently, the symbol etched within glittering only slightly as the light from the halls outside the room caught on it. Purple swiftly replaced that previous blue, her eyes glinting as she looked between the two of them. Patting Locke’s shoulder lightly, she stepped back from them and folded her arms across her chest, musing quietly to herself.
Green and silver wings, hmm? It would suit you to see through the eyes of that sort of man I think…
A knowing little smile curled her mouth further as she chuckled and the air around her seemed to clear, filling with good natured and light emotions.
Well…I think it’s safe to assume you didn’t come here to watch me make a fool of myself while training, eh? I’ll allow you both to practice as you will.
Moving out of their way she, casually waved one hand at the light switch allowing the light to slowly turn up so as not to blind everyone. It would be then that they would be able to see the sheen of sweat glistening along her skin along with the fading golden hue of her skin as it returned to its typical tanned color once more. Moving to the side wall, she gathered her robes and allowed them to rest over her forearm, the leather of her clothing and light armor a strange sight here in the temple among the traditional jedi clothing. The chain about her neck slid out as she’d picked up her robes, revealing the badge there, glinting a bright silver, the jedi symbol emblazoned on one side and writing covering the other.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rugs
The ring-dang-doo, now what is that?
6,347 posts
1,102 likes
Friendly neighborhood CEO
|
|
last online Jan 12, 2024 11:24:20 GMT -5
Administrator
|
|
|
May 5, 2010 12:56:19 GMT -5
Post by Rugs on May 5, 2010 12:56:19 GMT -5
Locke listened quietly as Talau explained what it was they'd seen, and told the grim tale of what was happening on the homeworld of her people. It saddened Locke's heart to here such a thing, but it put the battle that he'd seen into perspective. He understood the urging he'd had, that feeling of desperation to get to the Contess, no matter the cost to himself. "That is... unfortunate," he said, shaking his head sadly. "But if they still fight, there's still hope, right?" He offered a smile to Tal when she placed a hand on his shoulder. "There's always hope."
She took a few steps back from them, and Locke looked into those oh-so fascinating eyes of hers as she seemed to think to herself about something. It was strange, the way they seemed to be always shifting, this color one moment, another color the next. They were quite unlike anything Locke had ever seen before. Tal went on to speak again, saying that it was suiting that Locke would've seen the battle through the eyes of a man with green and silver wings. He didn't get it, but he assumed that it was safe to guess the colors had some sort of significance for the individual.
It was then that Tal acknowledged that they hadn't come to see what they'd seen, interesting though it was. She moved off to the side and turned the lights back on, to allow them to go about their training. Locke's grey eyes lingered on her skin for a moment as she went about picking up her robes, noting the odd faint golden hue that lingered on. I wonder what that is... Now that he thought on it, his skin tone had been different when he was the winged man in the vision. It had been vibrant, and bronze-ish in tone. And there were others in the vision with the wings and strange skin tones as well: some had were silver-ish, other with gold skin like Tal's... Strange.
But the time for wondering about such things was past, and now it was time for training. Locke looked to Jazen, motioning with his head for him to go about getting ready. Locke walked over to one of the wall and removed his coat, hanging it up on a pug that extended out from it. It was then that his clothing underneath was revealed. They were robes of a sort, though they weren't his regular attire, at least not his regular attire when he wasn't training. The top was a shirt, that was a sort of crème color and made of a very lightweight fabric. It had no sleeves, leaving his arms bare. His somewhat loose pants were similar, if a bit darker in shade and somewhat heavier. He wore it, obviously, because the lighter fabric made it a bit easier to move around, and there wasn't the whole burning up thing that was sometimes prone to happening in the heavier, normal robes. It was a training suit.
"When you're ready, we'll start with some meditation, as we always do," he said to Jazen as he turned around. His stormy grey eyes turned to Tal and he smiled with a light nod. "You're welcome to join us if you wish it, Tal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jazen
Beelzaboot
1,617 posts
86 likes
Rocking from the Great White North
|
|
last online Apr 20, 2022 19:46:47 GMT -5
Master
|
|
|
May 5, 2010 18:38:44 GMT -5
Post by Jazen on May 5, 2010 18:38:44 GMT -5
Like his master, Jazen remained completely silent through Talau's story, his focus on each word she spoke. Since he hadn't been able to witness the events firsthand like she and his Master had, every little detail about it helped him make sense of the emotions he had been blasted with instead. The fact that it was a memory surprised him though, especially when she said it was over two thousand years ago that the memory was placed. Having not met Talau before, Jazen had been unaware that she wasn't a normal human like him. Revealing the location to be Rilia, her home planet, therefore making her Rilian, made Jazen do a double take on her. She looked human in every aspect....except, he guessed, for her eyes.
As she continued, Jazen pieced memory with emotion. A civil war would create hate and chaos. Anger obviously came with the package and the despair could come from personal loss or the loss of the battle. She didn't reveal anything that he could fit love with, but using basic assumption based with little he did know, he guessed it came from two people meeting their loves on the field. And he didn't even bother with shock, for it could come from so many different sources that just trying to think of them all would keep Jazen busy all day.
While piecing together the last bits of her story, Jazen's mind drifted to something that had been bothering him of late. Much like Talau had been experiencing, Jazen had been having visions, or perhaps memories, of a place he felt he knew, but could not put his finger on. It was different each time, like pages of a book being revealed one step at a time. And the pages were out of order. Trying to figure out what it was had taken up a fair amount of his spare time, along with sleep when they hit him in his sleep. He hadn't brought it up with Locke yet, mainly cause he wanted to have some clue as to what it was before he approached him. But perhaps now was the time.
A hand on his shoulder snapped him from his thoughts, making his jump just a little. He swung his head to Talau, realizing he had spaced out. He secretly hoped that they hadn't noticed it, for it was as embarrassing as it was rude. Catching her eyes as she stepped past, Jazen noted that they seemed to be of a darker shade of blue then he remembered them being. He rose an eyebrow curiously to this, which timed in perfectly to her comment about his master fitting the green wings man he spoke of in the vision, masking its reason. At her smile, Jazen reached out with the Force again, finding that her presence now radiated warmth and calm, much better than the panic from before. A small grin edged its way across his face, closing his eyes to feel the tension in the room fading.
At a flick of her hand, the room slowly brightened, and Talau stepped aside, taking the observer's position instead. For a moment, Jazen could have sworn both her eyes and skin changed color, but he shook it off for the moment. Time to get down to buisness. As Locke shed his outer coat, Jazen shut his eyes, focusing on his own body. His upper robe slowly undid itself, sliding off Jazen as he rose his arms. Underneath, a tight black shirt covered his midsection and upper arms. He'd probably get in some kind of trouble for wearing such a thing under his robes, but after seeing what his Master wore while he was here, Jazen didn't worry about it much anymore.
"Yes, it would be interesting with another person thrown into the mix. Or you could just observe us in payback for us watching you. It would be fair, after all."
Nodding to Locke, Jazen cut himself off for a moment, shutting out everything around him. His body went limp for a second, then sprung to life as the Force surged into him. He felt it seep into every pore in his body and when it was so deeply entrenched in his body, Jazen sat down, going cross legged as he did. Slowly, he spread out that connection to the whole room, feeling Locke enter it as it passed over him. Strangely, he could not feel Talau, but having run into others who could shut themselves out from the Force, it didn't surprise him as much as it could have. Letting out a deep breath, Jazen nodded again.
"Ready whenever you are."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online Jun 4, 2023 4:58:38 GMT -5
Master
|
|
|
May 7, 2010 15:04:14 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on May 7, 2010 15:04:14 GMT -5
To be perfectly honest, Talau barely noticed what the others were wearing…or even what they were doing. She had developed a highly effective skill…she had developed sight akin to blinders for horses. As soon as Locke and Jazen had moved to start their training, her mind had moved on to other projects and training she needed to complete in her daily routine and brought those blinders up in her mind (and thus her sight) to allow them some privacy. Only Locke’s words managed to shake her free of those metaphorical blinders long enough to take in what they said, what they were doing, and what they were wearing. Their clothing made her head tilt slightly to the side as she eyed both of them with olive green eyes, full of curiosity and amusement. The young knight had had it drilled into her early on by Shoal that one should always practice in what they were going to be fighting in so as not to hinder themselves later. “Be prepared to battle in whatever you’re wearing, Firians…you can’t run and change before a battle, and you can’t risk being unable to fight in your own clothing because you’re used to something else. Got it?”A mild, sad, little smirk formed on her face before she turned grey-blue eyes to Locke and his padawan, that smirk transforming to a smile and showing a little more brightly to them as she pressed her own memories down once again, the feeling of loss kept under tight reign so they wouldn’t be able to sense it. The only sign of those emotions showing through the grey coloring in her eyes that mixed with the happy blue of them. I wouldn’t want to intrude, but I agree with Jazen that having someone new to spar with may be beneficial to him. After a while one can begin to predict their master, after all…an enemy you typically cannot predict unless you have fought them several times before.She paused as if thinking over something for a moment before chuckling. …or unless you worm your way into their mind…or they decide to let themselves be read like an open book…but those tend to be the cocky and over confident ones and they tend to be few and far between.She was, of course, referring to the Rilan sith she had fought on Subterrel not too long ago. The woman had gotten lucky and had just enough luck and skill to best Talau and win the battle, forcing the younger knight to vanish into the caves to keep from being lamed enough that she would have been killed. The Sith hounds had been around, after all, and she’d needed to be able to continue to defend herself in order to get back to the rally point with the others. It had been an unfortunate set of events, but Talau was determined to learn from the confrontation…the next time the two met, the black winged woman would lose. Moving to the side once more, she carefully folded her outer robes once more and lay them down on one of the benches that lined the walls. For the most part, the room was bare (only mat flooring and metal walls), but along the walls were several thin benches, a row of hooks to hang robes or coats or what have you, a couple shelves of remotes, a well used martial arts practice dummy in one corner and really…that was about all. It was an all too familiar room to her, one she’d been using since she were a padawan…it was the only one she ever really wished to use, though she would defer to others practicing in it if they managed to be there before her. There was no sense in being stubborn about it, after all, when others needed to train and had gotten there first, but she had good memories of this particular space and so she opted to come here for all of her martial training if given the choice. Watching as the others slipped into a short meditation, she stood along the wall furthest from them and brought Talon’s hilt to her hand, moving through the shii-cho katas smoothly, like flowing water. Her mind settled into the ingrained motions, allowing her senses to expand further as her mind relaxed and her eyes closed. This was one of her many forms of meditation, the well learned basic form allowing her body to move with the flow of the force and the simple movements, strengthening her connection to her own body…to reach in and feel the force in her limbs and blood…in each breath…as well as allow her senses to expand out to brush against the others in the room and out. The soft tinkle of the silver beads in her hair brought a soft smile to her face as she allowed her concealment to drop away from her in layers like rose petals. This was who she was…settled like this, moving this way…Talau felt calm, serene and light. The worries and burden settled in her heart were still there, but they weren’t as bad, the load wasn’t as heavy…here she was allowed to shine outward with the light of the force…wasn’t forced to hide, didn’t have to conceal herself to keep her secrets safe and protect herself from lurking dangers. “What is the Old Jedi Code, Talau?”
Emotion, yet Peace.
Ignorance, yet Knowledge.
Passion, yet Serenity.
Chaos, yet Harmony.
Death…yet the Force.
“Good…and the Odan-Urr Code?”
There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death…there is the Force.
“List the key concepts of our Order, and of Jedi behavior.”
Self-discipline, Master…
Responsibility, Master…
Public Service, Master…
“Good, Talau…you’re doing very well…but you’re losing focus, don’t allow your thoughts to wander or the vase will drop…and I happen to like that plant.”
Yes, Master Toth.
“Name the lessons of Self-Discipline, please.”
Conquer Arrogance, conquer over confidence, conquer…defeatism…conquer stubbornness, conquer recklessness, conquer…curiosity…conquer aggression, conquer external loyalties, and conquer materialism, Master…
“Very good! And without dropping the plant this time! Now, Responsibility?”
Practice honesty, honor your promises, honor your padawan, honor your master, honor the Jedi Order, honor the law, and honor life, Master…
“Wonderful…and lastly, Public Service?...though I doubt you need reminding about these.”
Duty to the Republic, Render Aid, Provide Support, and Defend the Weak, Master…
“Excellent, Talau…you may put the plant down now and go to your saber practice with Shoal now.”
Ugh…Y-yes Master Toth…The memory ran through her mind as she finished her…well how many time HAD she been through the Shii-cho katas? Shrugging it off mentally, she stilled and brought her attention to bear on the two in the room with her, those eyes opening to reveal those sunflower and sky colored eyes that honed in on them. With that concealment dropped, the young woman might almost seem to radiate, to pulse, with the force. Certainly not as much as some of the masters…it was still being honed into something stronger, but it was there none the less. |
|
|
|
|
|
Rugs
The ring-dang-doo, now what is that?
6,347 posts
1,102 likes
Friendly neighborhood CEO
|
|
last online Jan 12, 2024 11:24:20 GMT -5
Administrator
|
|
|
May 7, 2010 17:20:04 GMT -5
Post by Rugs on May 7, 2010 17:20:04 GMT -5
Locke slipped into his own meditation as he started to run through some rudimentary stretches to prepare for what was coming. He just barely tapped it at first, as if he was just barely touching the surface of a pond enough to send ripples gently spreading out. There he stayed, immersed in the Force only enough to feel it gently flowing into him, remaining at that point where he was not yet deep enough to start losing awareness of the world around him.
"Talau's suggestion is a good one," he said, his voice calm and steady. There was indeed truth to the woman's words. Locke was, obviously a better duelist than Jazen at the moment, due to the fact that he had years more experience than the boy did, but there was something to be said about sparring with the same person day in and day out. As they spent more time together, they learned each other, and their tendencies, and that gave Jazen an advantage against Locke that he might not have otherwise had. Of course, that worked both ways, and Locke knew Jazen and his tendencies, as one would expect; how else would he know what mistakes the boy was prone to making if he couldn't pick up on normalized errors? Still, there was a good deal of merit to Talua's suggestion. Perhaps...
He pushed in deeper to the Force, to the point that, were he still near that lake, he'd have waded out to the point where the water came up to his waist. Now he stretched outward in the Force, feeling the area around him. He could feel the slight currents of air as they moved about, propelled by the air conditioning system within the Temple. If he reached out, he could feel the presence of some small insect, a gnat, perhaps, that'd made its way in from the outside world to this room. Locke extended his senses out, toward Jazen. The boy had also slipped into his own meditative state, which was good. He seemed calm enough for the moment, though underneath Locke felt echoes of turmoil, perhaps leftover from Umgul. Or did he? Perhaps they were nothing more than the manifestations of Locke's fears, which had been seemingly ever present since their return from that mission. I've got to stop worrying about that. The thought was calm, a leaf being pushed by the gentle currents underneath. There's a difference between rightful concern and worrying too much...
Deeper. Locke submerged himself within the Force completely, and his awareness of the outside world faded even more. Now, it should be said that Locke was not completely unaware of what lay around him, as he still maintained some connection to the outside world, but it was dim, to the point where, barring some warning from the Force, he wouldn't really notice anything.
Locke's awareness turned inward now, and memories flitted to the surface. For a few moments he was at Rhen Var once more, to a scene that'd haunted his dreams in the days since then. He was facing off against Dorrin, and old friend, who'd fallen to join the Sith. They fight was long over but the horror, the pain of having to do battle with a friend was not something that was easily forgotten. The next moment he was on Umgul again, Jazen before him, with two Dark Jedi dead and on the ground. Locke was there, blade silent in his hand as he pleaded, begged for his student to see sense again. But those initial efforts failed, and Locke's orange blade came alive...
His stony eyes slid open again as he resurfaced from his trance, ready to get started. He'd not been in it long, but he'd gone deep, and though there were still things within that he didn't like, he was ready for the work at hand. At the same time, Jazen murmured that he was ready, and Locke nodded. "While there's something to be said for having to think of ways to fool a partner that knows you well, Talau is right," he said continuing on where he'd left off a few moments ago. " Of course, there's always the training droids, but I'm of the opinion that it's best to train against something that can actually think for itself." He folded his arms across his chest with a light chuckle as he looked at Jazen. "Besides, it might be good for you to get some sparring practice in against someone that isn't me, eh, kiddo?" Locke turned to Talau, feeling her presence flare out in the Force as he did. "What do you say, Tal? Care to see what Jazen here's made of?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jazen
Beelzaboot
1,617 posts
86 likes
Rocking from the Great White North
|
|
last online Apr 20, 2022 19:46:47 GMT -5
Master
|
|
|
May 7, 2010 19:55:12 GMT -5
Post by Jazen on May 7, 2010 19:55:12 GMT -5
From within the calmness of the Force that he had created, Jazen drifted in and out of his surroundings, letting the flow of the Force guide him. He didn't like meditation as much as some did, preferring physical action to mental tasks, but he did enjoy the peace it gave him. The events on Umgul drifted far away, a worry he didn't have to deal with at the moment. For now, there was only the room, the Force....and complete peace. Realizing he was drifting to far, Jazen called himself back to reality. He still basked in the the Force, but at least he could now hear anything that happened in the room just in case.
And he came back at just the right time. He listened to Talau's words about sparing with someone unknown, to defeat the being known as predictability. And he had to admit, it was an interesting thought. Jazen and Locke had dueled a few times and had also seen the other in action on missions. Jazen had even begun to notice a pattern to Locke's style, although he did change the rhythm quite often. And Locke surely had noticed how Jazen had fought, had probably committed to memory every fight they had. Jazen did the same thing, but being older, Locke probably did a much better job than him. Still, over time they would grow so used to each other that they would be able to duel blindfolded. A grin passed Jazen's face, but he didn't open his eyes or break his concentration.
And then, like all the other times, he felt the vision hit. Like a speeder. Images of people, places he had never seen. A child weeping. A woman holding the child. A chilling helmet with a T-shaped visor. Jazen shuddered for a moment, accidentally letting a small part of his shock slip out before he silenced it. The vision had gone as quickly as it had come, leaving Jazen empty handed and confused as always. Holding the cookie jar without any cookies to be seen, as his old master had once said. Shaking off the vision, Jazen felt for his lightsaber, lifting it with the Force. It thumbed to life behind him, the blade pointed straight up, its icy blue tint turning Jazen blue. Slowly it floated up till the hilt sat above his head level. With a sigh and breath, Jazen started to spin the lightsaber around, a blue blur in seconds. He drifted it to his right hand, raising his hand up to grab it, but kept the hilt inches from his hand, still spinning. He repeated the exercise by moving it to his left hand, then in different places around him.
Odd as it was, it was something he liked to practice. Putting the weapon so close to him, testing his control with the Force. It was a rush and calming at the same time. If any of his teachers saw him doing this, he would most likely get reprimanded for it. But here, with only Locke and Talau around, he felt no need to hide it. Besides, Locke had already allowed him to do this during their training, since it helped him focus much easier. Letting the saber continue its dance, he opened his eyes and inspected the others. Locke was still in his trance, much deeper in the Force than Jazen dared to go at his level. Glancing over, he caught the end portion of Talau's movements, her lightsaber hilt in her hand inactive. His own saber spun opposite him as he watched, part of his focus kept on keeping it from his body.
As she came out of it, he caught her eyes, grinning as he felt her release whatever had been shielding her from being felt in the Force. It was a warm, strong feeling. Like Locke's, although he had a cheerful mix added into it. As Locke came out of his own trance, Jazen hopped back up to his feet, stretching his legs out as he did. At Locke's suggestion, Jazen snatched his lightsaber from the air, stopping its spin so he could grab it safely. He bowed his head to her and put out his lightsaber, just in case she didn't like the idea.
"Yea, I agree with the predictability thing. Even though fighting an opponent who knows you inside out makes it much harder to fight them, fighting someone you've never fought before can be even tougher. And there's a chance of learning something new from fighting against another person. So, if its alright with you Master Talau, I'm game to the idea."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online Jun 4, 2023 4:58:38 GMT -5
Master
|
|
|
May 16, 2010 20:43:37 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on May 16, 2010 20:43:37 GMT -5
((very much not feeling the posting lately, but…need to get something up for you guys *sigh*))
Listening to what both had to say…not just verbally, but also through the force. Locke seemed worried…flickering bits of his shielded thoughts shocking out toward his padawan like lightning and dieing out before it ever reached the boy. The vibrating threads between the two hummed more violently for a moment, her eyes picking up the invisible strands of the force and the movement readily. On the other end of those binding threads, the padawan, Jazen, seemed distorted. His aura blurred and wavered, flickering in and out of focus as she watched him. She knew the signs, had seen them in others before, and allowed her presence to radiate out toward the boy to help ease his confusion as he came out of the vision. After they’d both said their piece, she shrugged slightly and smirked. Men were so dense sometimes. If it hadn’t been alright with her, she wouldn’t have offered in the first place. Though, to be fair, her offers didn’t always SOUND like offers.
I wouldn’t have mentioned it if I weren’t prepared to act the part, Locke, Jazen.
One hand idly twirled Talon, as she waited for Jazen to take his stance. Her own was….hardly a stance at all, saber unlit and held easily by her side, her body at a comfortable (if straight) posture that didn’t easily make visible what form she may employ.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rugs
The ring-dang-doo, now what is that?
6,347 posts
1,102 likes
Friendly neighborhood CEO
|
|
last online Jan 12, 2024 11:24:20 GMT -5
Administrator
|
|
|
May 18, 2010 19:53:32 GMT -5
Post by Rugs on May 18, 2010 19:53:32 GMT -5
"Fair enough, fair enough," Locke responded. He moved off to the side of the room to a position where he would be out of the way, so that Talau and Jazen could go about their business without worrying about him. It would be good for Jazen to fight against another Knight; that would provide a much-needed opportunity to get in some work against an opponent he knew nothing about. It would make him work, and force him to have to adjust quickly, lest he end getting embarrassed, among other things.
However, watching the coming action would be beneficial for Locke as well. Of course he knew Jazen's strong areas and those that needed work, but he could not deny that he, as a teacher, settled into certain routines and methods--routines and methods that, while not necessarily bad, might not have been what was best for Jazen. Again, that's not to say they weren't good, but at the same time, there might be things that could be done that would be better for the padawan. It wasn't something that was just limited to Locke; every master did it to some degree, and sometimes all that was needed to make the student's instruction better was just seeing things from a different angle. So let's see what Tal can show both of us, then. With that, he folded his arms, leaned against the wall, and a waited for things to begin.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jazen
Beelzaboot
1,617 posts
86 likes
Rocking from the Great White North
|
|
last online Apr 20, 2022 19:46:47 GMT -5
Master
|
|
|
May 18, 2010 21:55:04 GMT -5
Post by Jazen on May 18, 2010 21:55:04 GMT -5
Jazen let Locke move to the edges of the room before he moved himself, taking up a position opposite Talau. In the brief moment he had before the fight would start, Jazen went to work, analyzing the information presented to him. From the minute he had entered the room to the present moment, Jazen had been noting down everything in his mind, something he did naturally and more frequently after Locke became his Master. Her performance when they first arrived was fresh in his mind and it was that he was most focused on detailing. She had been using Ataru, Jazen was sure of that. And yet, there was something more to it, something she added in that made the form all her own. His own Ataru was still in development, still mostly used the way everyone first used it. He could not match her there if it came down to it.
And she was strong in the Force, to the point that in a battle of Force powers, she would also win. The fact that she could cloak her presence to the point of being almost invisible in the Force also presented a problem, although a rather simple one to correct. He would just have to rely on his physical sight to watch her moves. He went over some smaller details quickly, realizing he had closed his eyes while he was analyzing. No matter. He was concentrating, relaxed and at peace, exactly the way he wanted to be. With all the information flowing through his mind, Jazen concluded there was only one way he could effectively combat Talau; through surprise and improvising. He shouldn't have been thinking about matching up to her, for he could barely match up to Locke when he was trying. But in order to become stronger, he had to. He needed to prove to Locke, to Talau, but especially to himself, that he could go beyond the call of what he was capable of.
Summoning his saber to his hand, Jazen made sure to switch it to the training mode before snapping it to life. Not that he doubted Talau could simply dodge his blade; he just wanted to be sure an accident didn't happen. The odds of something going wrong was slim but slim still meant there was a chance, a chance he wasn't willing to take. Spinning the blade once in his hand, Jazen brought it up in front of him, both hands on the hilt, the tip pointed diagonally towards Talau. His eyes snapped open, both of them narrow and focused, only Talau filling their vision. Her stance was loose, with her saber unlit at her side, her body straight and relaxed. No sign of an attack. So Jazen went first. Sticking with basic Shii-cho to start off, Jazen closed the distance between them in two quick steps, bringing his saber down to his left hip as he did. Sliding his right foot sideways as it came down, Jazen swung his saber up from the hip, diagonally aimed at her chest. His follow through would be a reverse of the strike, followed by a horizontal slash from his left. Testing the waters his Master had called it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online Jun 4, 2023 4:58:38 GMT -5
Master
|
|
|
May 21, 2010 20:27:17 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on May 21, 2010 20:27:17 GMT -5
((expect EPIC!........crappiness))
She barely noticed Locke after she spoke and readied herself, pulling in her signature in the force…molding it down to little more than a grain of salt or drop of water among the vast sea of the force. Talau wasn’t about to let the boy have it easy…no. Her goal was to be everything he would have to face as a jedi…to become every grey jedi, every dark jedi, every sith, and every force user in between that he might ever fight. Her goal was to fight dirty, and Winds knew…she’d seen enough and fought enough force users to have picked up a few of their tricks for getting under someone’s skin. She watched him, felt him, concentrating, thinking…too much. It wasn’t her style to attack first, but that didn’t mean others wouldn’t…he was taking too long and was too focused to really know if she was going to attack him or not.
First big mistake.
As she waited on him, Talau was far from idle. Her mind was already starting to insinuate itself into his presence, wrapping around it without touching his consciousness…not giving him any hints that she was there…yet. The cords of her mind twined about each other in loose loops around his, leaving space there, leaving him yet untouched, bringing her ever closer and hearing those echoes of his thoughts through the force…hints of what he might be planning. He wasn’t very quiet yet and in the hush of the force around them, his mind’s whisperings were less muffled to her senses than if they might have been out in the hustle of Coruscant’s city. Shii-cho, surprise, improvise…these were what she caught…no more…but it was enough to give her a leg up…to narrow down what he may attempt use against her. As his blade slapped solidly into his palm, the coils of her mind tightened like a noose around his mind, finally letting him know she was there, had been preparing, and was already moving her pieces into place.
Fine fibers of her presence sifted across the barriers of his mind, searching for the thinnest of cracks to press into…but it would still take some time to find them. In the mean time, Jazen was moving. Two steps and he was there before her, slashing diagonally at her chest, but she was ready. The whisperings of the force in her mind had her moving backward just enough to avoid his attempted strike. A swift snap-hiss and hum of her lavender blade and she stopped the strike just short of his neck, opposite of where his blade had tried to slice into her shoulder. Click of sound and the blade vanished as she stepped back again allowing his second strike to flicker millimeters past her face in the other direction. Talon switched hands and the blade coruscated to life again, stopping just shy of his rib cage and arm. Finally her mind found the fracture in his defenses and her presence all but vanished from around his mind, vaporizing and sifting in like a silent fog to muddle his senses and reactions without harming him as that purple blade died once more. A third step back and both arms were up above her head, Talon held securely in both of them as she stopped once more, the blade mere centimeters from the top of his head. Lightly she bounded back two steps to take her out of range once more and tossed her head haughtily, giving him an impish and satisfied grin.
Once, twice, thrice dead, Jazen…is this the best you can do? Certainly you didn’t REALLY feel the need to try and ‘test’ me? I'm not the one needing the testing of their skills. Come again, Padawan, if you dare.
Oh yes, it was very un-jedi of her to say things like that…to taunt him…and honestly she would have preferred not to…but this was what dark jedi did. This was one trick they employed. He would need to be ready for it and be able to keep a cool head about him if he were to have any hope of winning against them and not falling into dark ways. Talon remained settled easily in her hand, disengaged as it had been before, her stance no different than when they’d first started, an air of unflappable calm about her as she watched him steadily. Now that she was within the folds of his mind she could easily handicap him…slow him, lock his muscles, disable him completely, but that wouldn’t do him any good…no, if he wanted her out, if he wanted to keep her from reading his thoughts and memories…or simply ‘looking over his shoulder’ so to speak…he would have to expel her himself. Or try to.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jazen
Beelzaboot
1,617 posts
86 likes
Rocking from the Great White North
|
|
last online Apr 20, 2022 19:46:47 GMT -5
Master
|
|
|
May 22, 2010 21:02:31 GMT -5
Post by Jazen on May 22, 2010 21:02:31 GMT -5
If Jazen had hoped that he might have some chance against Talau, even in basic training, she quickly tore that thought apart. Standing motionless only a few steps from Talau, Jazen's mouth was open in both awe and confusion. He knew that he was leaving himself open to attack, but his body was numb from a slight ping of fear. Still, he held a defensive stance despite his shock. His mind, still at a lost for what had just happened, replayed the event, tearing it apart piece by piece.
He had come in perfectly, his moves fluid and with little error in their execution. And yet, Talau had not only moved in perfect counter, but moved like she already knew what he was planning. His attack met neither blade or flesh, instead swiping the empty air when she had once been. The glow of a lavender lightsaber filled his eyes, stopping just short of his neck. Just as quick as it appeared, the light faded. His next attack was evaded as well, missing her by millimeters. Again, her lavender blade sparked to life, edging dangerously close to his ribs and arm. Like before, she quickly snapped her blade off to evade his next strike, then summoned it to life once more, gently placing it centimeters from the top of his head. She bounded back after that, laughing and smiling at him.
Embarrassment filled his cheeks, flushing them a bright red at her comments. She was right though. He hadn't really needed to do testing moves against her. She was a Knight, like his Master; him a learning apprentice. If anything, she should have been the one testing him. Which, in a way, she had already done though her complete and through countering of his attacks. Something bothered him though. Locke knew him like the back of his hand now and still he could catch Locke off guard. Talau, who knew nothing about him or his style, had perfectly evaded all his strikes and was even able to put her saber next to vital points in between his moves. She could have read him through his body movement and quite possibly through reading him in the Force. But something didn't seem right.
Confusion continued to sneak its way across his face, but it was quickly crushed by another feeling. A feeling of excitement. It rose like a raging fire within him, an urge to face this problem head on...and find a way to conquer it. A smile crossed Jazen's face as he stood upright to face her, his eyes locked once again upon her stance less form. Even though he had done a complete run down in his mind, only about half a minute had passed since they broke contact. Swinging his saber several times in front of him, Jazen brought his saber arm back, lowering his other arm in front of him. Crouching slightly, Jazen coughed out a laugh of his own.
"Well, I felt the need to test me. And I see that that was a huge mistake. So, let's try again shall we?"
Jazen sprung forward, bringing his other arm back the grasp the hilt of his saber as the arm holding the saber swung round, right to left at her head. The instant his first strike missed or hit, Jazen would follow through with a backhanded strike with his right, followed by downward strike with all the strength he could muster. From that strike, whether it connected or not, Jazen would already be moving into his next attack, vaulting over her while he kept his saber in a position to defend against a counter attack. When he landed, he would bring the saber around into a roundhouse swing with his left. But he had one last trick to play even then. While his left would bring all the Force he could muster, he would use his momentum to swing his body, sending his right hand, clenched into a fist, towards her chest. Despite all the thought he put into the first moves, the last ones were spur of the moment. If she was reading his mind, he would use this assault to see how well, if at all, she could do so. And from there, he could begin his counter attack.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online Jun 4, 2023 4:58:38 GMT -5
Master
|
|
|
May 31, 2010 15:07:39 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on May 31, 2010 15:07:39 GMT -5
((okay, that was a lot of moves you just pulled there and I'm not clear on how all of them were enacted, so if she doesn’t react to how you intended the strike, sorry…doing my best here))
She waited patiently for him to figure out just what she’d done…if he could. Thirty seconds was a long time to someone who used the force, and each one that ticked by found her burying herself deeper into his mind and coiling around the points of his mind that controlled his movement.
Lesson one: Every second you waste will be used against you in battle. I’ll warn you now…don’t expect me to fight nice, or fight fair. That isn’t what I'm here for.
The pulses, the ripples and sounds, Jazen created in the force were warning enough for the young woman without her needing to read his thoughts. Currents of pressure, felt only to her, had that lithe form ducking only minimally to allow the swing to pass through the air where her head had previously been. Drawn along by that guiding force, she moved under the backhanded swing, still conserving her energy as she took the least amount of action to avoid his attempts. His motions were clumsy, large and powerful, but with far too much room between them, allowing her to get up under his guard should she choose…but she didn’t choose. Not yet. This was a game of Djarik to her…she was simply biding her time and setting the pieces up to fall into place at the proper time. Any half decent dark jedi worked similarly. That downward blow hummed dangerously close to her shoulder as she stepped to the side and watched him vault over her, turning to face the direction he would be landing.
Is that the best you can do? I’ve seen younglings perform with more skill and fewer holes on Exhibition Day.
Her words were punctuated by a light footed back step that allowed his saber to swing just past her throat, those silver beads tinkling with the motion. Talau watched passively as his right hand came round on her, the force echoing its warnings through her mind. Blinking steadily at him, those tendrils of her mind finally clamped down on his mind just enough to cause enough pain to have him focusing on that instead of her physical motions. She wouldn’t need any more than that. Tipping her shoulder back, she allowed the punch to fly past her chest and shoulder before ducking under his arm and coming up inside his guard with the hand holding her saber hilt slamming upward, emitter first, below his diaphragm, the other hand striking out to wrap around his head and pull him closer. If she caught him, that arm would hook behind his neck, her hand cupping his chin…pulling him downward and turning at the same time to make him face away from her. After all…where the head went, the body went. This would, however, also bring him into a position where his head and neck were propped back against her chest. To be sure he didn’t struggle more than she wanted, the python-like vines of her mind that were in position to lock down his motor functions worked to keep his arms locked in place.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jazen
Beelzaboot
1,617 posts
86 likes
Rocking from the Great White North
|
|
last online Apr 20, 2022 19:46:47 GMT -5
Master
|
|
|
May 31, 2010 17:46:01 GMT -5
Post by Jazen on May 31, 2010 17:46:01 GMT -5
(Sorry if I wasn't clear. But you pretty much got the idea.)
If Jazen had felt outclassed before, Talau showed him just how easily she increase that feeling. Perhaps age and years of experience were something even his skills could not match up to. Still, this was meant to be a sparring session, a way to learn. And Jazen was learning alright. In how badly he could be predicted. Although, he had partial confirmation on something now. She did seem to know his attacks beforehand, making it easy to already be moving away from the strike. All three of his initial strikes met nothing but air, although his downward attack came dangerously close. Not as dangerous since they were using training sabers, but still pretty close. As he landed from his flip and spun round to attack, his saber again just missed her, suggesting that he was doing something right about making attacks based on instinct. Of course, she had been telling him this the whole time, hinting at it when she mentioned how planning attacks left him wide open.
Maybe that was why she could so easily predict him. She had such a powerful grip of Force Sense, so great that she could place herself in her visions, part of them and yet not part of them. Would it be entirely out of the question to think she could sense his intent when he thought about it? He could barely probe past the outer layers of the mind, but if she was as good as he suspected, she could probably see past that. In that sense, thinking about his moves only made them easier to counter. A sudden surge of fear griped him then, and he buried the images of Umgul as deep as he could. He didn't want her, nor anyone, to see that.
His thoughts about her abilities were suddenly confirmed as his fist came round to follow the strike. Suddenly his entire body shook as a wave of pain slammed into it. While not as powerful as the pain he had felt while on Umgul, it was enough to stun him, breaking his concentration for a moment. And a moment was all Talau needed. His fist met air and in the brief second he had winced in pain, she had shot up close to him. His eyes widened in surprise, then squinted in pain as she slammed something hard into his gut, forcing the air from his lungs. Something wrapped around his neck, grabbing him by the chin and pulling him by it. His body snapped to follow and he felt his back thump against something soft. He turned his head to see what it was....and turned a shade of red he didn't think existed. He was pressed up against her. If he had been training against Locke or any other male teacher, this situation would not be strange at all. But Jazen hadn't had much experience with members of the opposite gender....and she had a warmth to her Jazen was unfamiliar with. Something nudged at his mind, a feeling that he had felt this before but he could not remember where.
Something else was there too, in his mind. And he couldn't move his arms because of it. And if the pain he had suddenly felt a moment earlier was any proof, it was probably Talau. So this is what she was doing while she waited for him to move. No wonder she told him he shouldn't think so much about his moves. So he wouldn't. Pushing aside the odd feelings, Jazen relaxed his body, as if submitting. The saber dropped from his hands, both to continue the illusion and because his arms were useless for the moment anyway. And that's when he sprung. He knew what she would probably do and if he did this just right, it would work to his advantage. His legs sprung up, forcing him from her chest to reach his full height, just a little above her own. And he did so while forcing his body to spin. He moved towards the inside of her gripping hand, knowing that it was harder to grip when they moved away from the strength of the grab. This brought him face to face with Talau. He was there only for a brief second before he stepped inside her stance and pushed his knee to push hers to the side. To follow that, he did the most basic thing he could. He shoved his shoulder into her, hoping that he had moved fast enough to catch her off guard. If he did, the sudden breaking of her balance would let the tackle knock her back, in which time Jazen would call his saber back to him, ready to go another round.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
last online Jun 4, 2023 4:58:38 GMT -5
Master
|
|
|
Jun 14, 2010 15:26:22 GMT -5
Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on Jun 14, 2010 15:26:22 GMT -5
Good! React, don’t think…thought takes too long and is too easily read in the force. Use your senses, boy, they’re your asset…listen to the force.
His relaxation didn’t fool her, however; even as she spoke, Talau could sense his mind working to keep his emotions and thoughts from her as well as figure out just how to get away. It was lucky for him that he didn’t plan the move, but just moved. As he stood straight, she let that grip relax and allowed him to turn rather than fight to keep the hold. It would only put her at a disadvantage. When he faced her again her stance would be lowered, with a wide and solid base. His knee would find hers, certainly, but she’d been prepared for him to try something close in and so his action didn’t have the effect he may have hoped. With her stance already lowered, that knee was already bent and unmoving…his attempt to shoulder into her found her lowering further, getting below the motion and surging forward in a thrust of powerful muscle and force speed. To take him down…to tackle him…was not her goal, though that was what her actions said she was attempting. No, she was forcing him to react…if he could.
He had committed himself to the motion of tackling her, and with her stance holding her now at waist height with him, chances were she’d upset his motion and send him down if he didn’t move swiftly. At the last moment, that blurred form would stoop completely, shifting just barely away from him, and grab his saber from the ground and ignite it from the other side of the mats as she turned to face him once more. With a flip of his saber, she raised one eyebrow at him…challenging him and chiding him all at once.
--Well, padawan, now what are you going to do without your lightsaber? I don’t suppose you have another on hand?--
Those words were spoken into his mind, a haunting similarity to her voice echoing there as she used her people’s natural talents of telepathy to get her point across. With that otherworldly voice there would be an image of her, skin a brilliant golden sheen, those features sharpened and angled, the tawny wings behind her large and glistening with deep greens, blues, and purples…hints of silver and the beginnings of crimson glistening among the feathers as well. The robes had been replaced with a flowing white gown of light material. Despite the nearly angelic image her Rilan telepathy imprinted into his mind, those words were taunting as she watched him calmly from across the room and within his very mind. In a folding of those wings around the mental image of Talau, she was hidden (for now) from him as the young knight focused, instead, on unburying whatever images, memories, he had tried to hide from her previously. It wouldn’t take her long, now doubt, since his mind wasn’t quite as locked and bound as many of their Order comrades were…or should have been.
|
|
|
|
|
