Instructional Irony (Avoim Oeymo)

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Note: This takes place immediately after 'An Encounter of Chance.'

Sherasti Rin sat cross-legged in a half-meditative state, marveling at just how strange the universe really was. You could travel in it for a hundred years or three, and it would still surprise you.

The surprise today was a most unusual request. Typically Masters instructed Knights, and Knights instructed Padawans. But in a farcical and truly ironic turn of events, a Knight was about to instruct a Master.

At first the tall and slender Togruta had been astonished and had assumed the messenger was playing a practical joke. But as he continued to explain, Sherasti had realized it was serious. Never in all her 24 years had she been expecting to be responsible for training a Master in anything. Certainly not swordsmanship. She was a Consular, not a Guardian. She was primarily a telepathically-gifted Jedi, and secondarily- Well, a bit of a prodigy at Makashi actually. Since her left arm had been shattered in a dozen places years ago on Pantolomin, she'd feverishly worked to learn Makashi so she could better use a lightsaber one handed. She'd shown an effortless grace in the style, operating fluidly like a dancer.

Apparently she'd even been good enough to be noticed by a Master. And a Guardian nonetheless, if she'd heard right. And with the Togruta combined sense of extra spatial awareness and hearing there wasn't much chance she'd heard a single detail wrong.

Her violet eyes flickered open, she could sense the figure approaching behind her, both in the Force and physically. She could feel the sound of him coming closer.

"Master Betulia?" She queried without looking, though she knew it surely must be him.

[avoim]

May the Force be with you, always

The rather young master chuckled as he entered the room, he’d heard of this specific Knight when looking for Jedi knowledgeable in the use of the second Lightsaber form, Makashi, and what he’d heard about her seemed correct. “Your reputation precedes you, able to sense my presence even when I am attempting to conceal it, though my skills at that are not that grand.”

The young master then put on a friendly and joking smile, trying to ease the tension that might have been in the room at the time and then he continued “Well Jedi Knight Rin, I know that you must be rather confused as to why I, a Jedi Master, asked you to help me train when usually it would be the other way around. Well I’ve heard that you are rather gifted with the Lightsaber form known as Makashi and was hoping you could teach me to use it as well.”

Nicholas had heard a great deal about her in his training, well not a great deal he couldn’t get access to her mission reports and the like, but he’d heard rumors that one of her arms had been broken severely which had prompted her to learn the style and that with her rather unique height amongst females in the galaxy, six foot without the height added by the Montrals she was a rather formidable opponent in combat.

[/blockquote]

Master Betulia, Avoim Oeymo, Mizuno Betulia

Jedi Master Guardian of the Jedi Order, Grey Jedi for hire, Republic Fighter Pilot

post template made by and © to avoim of Star Wars Universe RP

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

"I'm flattered Master Betulia."

The Togruta rose to her feet, smoothing the ornamental sash she wore. Its purple and blue fabric rustled slightly at the touch. It was quite a similar purple to her eyes in fact, which had fixed on the Jedi Master. Her eyeline was even with his forehead, so they were angled slightly downward to make eye contact.

She summed him up with a look, wondering whether or not he'd actually imagined he could sneak up on a Togruta. It was a prospect that bordered on the impossible thanks to their senses.

Sherasti moved on from that thought. "I am proficient in Makashi. It is... irregular, but I would be honored to assist you however I can."

She shrugged off the brown wool outer robe, letting it fall to the ground. Her under-robes were considerably more maneuverable, and considerably more unique. The upper portion was essentially the typical cream colored arrangement of tabards, only with a light weight yellow gold innermost layer. Below it, instead of pants and boots, was a flowing and loose dress and bare feet.

Attached to the belt was a curved-hilt lightsaber that she drew. She held it up to show it to Betulia, providing a few quick words as to why it was valuable. "The curved hilt of my saber fits the contours of my hand perfectly. It tucks into my palm, and that gives me better leverage and speed in my cuts."

With a snap/hiss, the green blade came to life and filled the air with a humming.

Sherasti lowered it to the Makashi opening stance, then raised it in a flourish and began to demonstrate the most basic movements of the style. For now it was enough to show, once he'd seen them a few times he could follow the motions she was showing. And that was step one.

[avoim]

May the Force be with you, always

The master listened to her as she removed her wool cloak, he too removed his dual cloaks that he wore and threw it onto a nearby bench, his usual black VibroSword had not been with him but his normal single blade Lightsaber had been there with him. It was a standard Lightsaber and not curved like hers was, but it had not been built for this style and so who was he to complain about that.

Nicholas then removed his Lightsaber from his belt, which was a cloth modified with a flexible metal in it so it would hold up and still maintain its appearance. The only visible anomaly was the small metal clip that was used for the Lightsaber to clip onto the belt he then activated it with a snap-hiss and proceeded to perform the same movements that she did.

He did the small Makashi salute, which was not hard at all, then the little flourish that she had preformed and then said “I thank you for assisting me in this training Jedi Rin now shall we proceed with the training?” the question was asked in a cool and even tone of voice not snarky or sarcastic, just a normal question so that he could start the training properly.

[/blockquote]

Master Betulia, Avoim Oeymo, Mizuno Betulia

Jedi Master Guardian of the Jedi Order, Grey Jedi for hire, Republic Fighter Pilot

post template made by and © to avoim of Star Wars Universe RP

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Sherasti chuckled. In some ways the Master reminded her of herself first trying to learn Makashi, trying to rush it. Only with time had she realized that the effortless grace and elegant panache of Form II had to be achieved with practice and patience.

It wouldn't hurt to demonstrate the basics against him, their sabers were both on training settings after all.

"I'm going to demonstrate the three basic movements of Makashi now. The first is the thrust."

She brought the blade vertical and even with her eyeline as a salute before lowering it, and thrusting into the air and developing the stroke with a twist of her wrist. Then she returned it to a guard position.

"Now thrust in my direction and I'll demonstrate how to parry."

[avoim]

May the Force be with you, always

Nicholas watched as she performed a basic thrust at nothing in particular and then returned to the guard stance that was similar to the salute of the form. She then told Nicholas to thrust into her direction and that she’ll demonstrate how to parry with the form.

Nicholas then, with his Lightsaber in its training setting, thrust towards Rin’s midsection at a good speed, performing the action sequence similar to hers and thought that these actions were not too hard, but then again these were the beginning stages of the stance and that his mastery of Shii-cho and Soresu are going to make the first two or so stages of training easier than normal.

[/blockquote]

Master Betulia, Avoim Oeymo, Mizuno Betulia

Jedi Master Guardian of the Jedi Order, Grey Jedi for hire, Republic Fighter Pilot

post template made by and © to avoim of Star Wars Universe RP

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

With the flick of her wrist, Sherasti brought her saber up to block the thrust. She turned it slightly to the side and killed its momentum.

Their blades crackled as they touched, lingering. In a real skirmish they would have continued on with a flurry of moves. But for the demonstration of a disengagement, holding the contact was needed.

"This is the third movement, the disengagement."

She used the leverage of her wrist to slide her blade over and around the Jedi Master's. It spun his blade away and freed her up to return to press an attack or return to the starting position.

"Now I'll thrust, and you parry and disengage."

The Togruta gave another Makashi salute, then thrusted toward Master Betulia, not fast but not slowly either.

[avoim]

May the Force be with you, always

At the same pace as Rin, Nicholas parried the blow, sweeping his blade in a sparking collision over to the right side, he then twirled his blade with the flick of his wrist sending her blade up into the air, leaving her open for a counter maneuver. Nicholas smirked inwardly at this, but not outwardly so as not to appear cocky.

“How was that Jedi Rin? Was that proper?” he said as he returned to the salute stance of Makashi and awaited her answer. Nicholas was starting to consider asking for a full on spar, but decided that it might not be best as of yet with his limited amount of knowledge in this particular form yet, so he decided to not request the spar just yet.

[/blockquote]

Master Betulia, Avoim Oeymo, Mizuno Betulia

Jedi Master Guardian of the Jedi Order, Grey Jedi for hire, Republic Fighter Pilot

post template made by and © to avoim of Star Wars Universe RP

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

"Quite," Sherasti answered. He understood the three basic maneuvers at a basic level. That was maybe half the battle as far as Makashi was concerned. The form centered just as much on footwork and spacing as it did on actual saber to saber clashing.

"Now we move on to footwork. Footwork and spacing are extremely important for Makashi. In Soresu," she brought up the style more familiar to help the Jedi Master grasp the principle she wanted to demonstrate, "you envision a circle around you in which you are centered. In Makashi, it helps to see a circle as well. But this circle is large, the full length of your saber. Any point inside the circle is capable of being struck. And the circle moves as you move. By bringing your foe in and out of that circle, you control when they can strike at you, and from which direction."

The Togruta demonstrated the circle around her by swinging her saber slowly in an arc through the air around her.

Her own unique style of Makashi emphasized movement. A simple step to the side, to the rear, or ahead could yield an advantage. And when take to a more complicated and advanced level, spins could be used to move out of the way and strike unprotected flanks at the same time.

Makashi wasn't about power, it was about finesse.

[avoim]

May the Force be with you, always

Nicholas listened patiently as she explained the next part of the training and how it would involve him imagining himself in the middle of a circle about as long as a Lightsaber is. He then began to imagine his Lightsaber as a straight line directly under his feet and created a circle from tip to tip of said imaginary Lightsaber. He then took up the Makashi Salute again and looked right at her.

He then spun his Lightsaber in a perfect circle in front of him and said “So my circle should be about this large, same as my Lightsaber as I spin it?” Nicholas continued to spin his Lightsaber as he looked at the young Togruta Jedi Knight that was aiding him in learning the form at this point in time.

[/blockquote]

Master Betulia, Avoim Oeymo, Mizuno Betulia

Jedi Master Guardian of the Jedi Order, Grey Jedi for hire, Republic Fighter Pilot

post template made by and © to avoim of Star Wars Universe RP

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

"Yes. And remember you have to find a balance between moving your circle to evade your opponent and moving it to strike your opponent. Control your footwork and you control the flow of the battle."

Sherasti tried to sum up just how familiar the master was with the basics. Could he integrate thrusting, parrying, disengaging and footwork? She wasn't sure. It was probably a good idea to illustrate one final part of Makashi before she demonstrated the fusion of all aspects.

"Before I show you the way what I taught you blends together, I want to demonstrate cuts. Thrusting isn't always the right approach in a skirmish due to angles or styles. When you need to strike under most conditions you'll use a cut with your saber. When you do, its important that you use your wrist to deliver extra leverage when you flick your blade toward the target. You also want to aim for your enemy's flanks and vulnerable extremities. Find their vulnerabilities and target them. By conserving your strength through directing the flow of the fight and attacking the flanks, you can wear your opponent down."

She made a few demonstrations of cuts by directing her saber blade toward an imaginary foe's limbs.

Then she turned to Betulia again. "Attack me using Shii Cho and watch my footwork."

[avoim]

May the Force be with you, always

Nodding, Nicholas extended his awareness through the force to encompass the two of them so he can best understand what she wants him to learn this time. Then through the use of the basic Shii-cho stance, Nicholas began to strike out at her, not with the intent to harm her but enough that he’d use in the normal training spars he would do.

Nicholas then looked at her both with his eyes and the awareness gifted to him through the force and used both to mainly focus on her footwork, but not neglecting any part of her that was used in the Makashi Lightsaber form that she was teaching him to use.

(sorry for the shortness of late, I just have no clue how to do this best...)

[/blockquote]

Master Betulia, Avoim Oeymo, Mizuno Betulia

Jedi Master Guardian of the Jedi Order, Grey Jedi for hire, Republic Fighter Pilot

post template made by and © to avoim of Star Wars Universe RP

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Sherasti moved to the side as Master Betulia moved forward, neatly ducking out of his strike range. She pirouetted like a dancer, and brought herself back into his circle just in time to deliver a light tap to the back of his thigh with her green blade. It wasn't a hard blow, and thanks to the training setting it was merely a slight stinging sensation.

But it showed as a demonstration of how an attack could be avoided, and then turned into a seamless opportunity to counterattack. She was demonstrating how to be elusive and control the flow of the practice.

"You can see that a simple movement can throw even a skilled opponent off balance, when you control your footwork you can create openings. Just be careful you motion isn't always linear, or you'll fall victim to more powerful and aggressive styles."

[avoim]

May the Force be with you, always

When Rin moved out of his line of attack he nearly lost his balance and then fell onto his face from the sudden shock of the training setting Lightsaber, he quickly stood back up and listened to her as she spoke to him about the nuances of the form.

He already had a decent understanding of what she had been saying, about how simple movement can throw opponents off balance and how too linear a movement could get you trapped. It made sense especially if you thought of it as Dejarik; wait for the opponent to make a move and use their own strategy against them. A simple thought he’d used in his own combat technique many times prior.

[/blockquote]

Master Betulia, Avoim Oeymo, Mizuno Betulia

Jedi Master Guardian of the Jedi Order, Grey Jedi for hire, Republic Fighter Pilot

post template made by and © to avoim of Star Wars Universe RP

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

With another hiss, Sherasti deactivated her lightsaber and reattached it to her belt in an unhurried manner. They'd practiced enough for a single day, and the Master would do well to spend several hours contemplating what he'd seen and practicing on his own.

It was how Sherasti had learned, and the Togruta had excelled quite readily at it.

"I think you should spend some time on your own practicing and meditating on what I showed you Master Betulia. If you still require a tutor, tomorrow we can review what you learned today and start in on some more intense training."

The Togruta Consular tilted her head slightly, searching Betulia for his reaction. She didn't know him well enough to determine if he was the type to move slowly and carefully into new terrain or to leap boldly. If it was the latter he'd probably want more of a lesson on the first day, but he'd simply have to respect his subordinate's teaching style.

[avoim]

May the Force be with you, always

With a snap-hiss the viridian Lightsaber of the master deactivated. Nicholas gave the young Jedi a slight bow and said “Thank you for the assistance, if I need help I will not hesitate to seek you out Knight Rin.” And with that Nicholas would sit in the exact center of the training room, he’d had plenty of time for the silence needed to meditate and think and even practice on his own since no one else was scheduled for the use of the room for a while.

But it was still open to any Jedi that needed it so he might have had hours or seconds who was to know, but he expanded his force presence to encompasses a good amount of the area, including the room and several steps outside of it. After a few seconds his Lightsaber had lifted from the ground and began to float around Nick in an orbit like pattern, if left alone long enough a good amount of items; Datapads, chairs, his coat whatever was around, would be floating around the room and himself floating in the center of it.

[/blockquote]

Master Betulia, Avoim Oeymo, Mizuno Betulia

Jedi Master Guardian of the Jedi Order, Grey Jedi for hire, Republic Fighter Pilot

post template made by and © to avoim of Star Wars Universe RP

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Sherasti bowed her head, dipping her montrals. Her lekku swayed slightly with the movement as well, but in a graceful manner.

She'd done her part, and done it as well as she possibly could. If he called on her again she'd rise to the challenge, but if the Force led her elsewhere or led him elsewhere then she'd yield to that too.

Often times in life it seemed that everything was simply a matter of heeding the Living Force. Follow its commands and everything else fell into place. It was the way she lived her life, doing what was right and what she was called to.

Right now she felt no particular calling, but her mind knew to leave Betulia alone with his thoughts.

Silently the Togruta turned and left him in peace.

[Bones]

Although his eyes lingered on the younglings sparring infront of him, his attention was focused on the two Jedi in the other training area. He smirked, for once the master was the student. Although he was showing aptitude and picking up the basics quickly, Kaiven smirked, wondering how well Nicholas would tie his new learnt moves in together. A bit more practice would be needed, perhaps.

Eventually the training class ended, and Kaiven walked closer to the two Jedi. He smiled, recognising the knight instructing. Sherasti Rin was certainly a talented young knight, and her use of Makashi was quite amazing. He smirked, wondering how her abilities in Makashi would flow against his own. He was itching to test them both out, but decided it was not his place. He would just watch and observe.

Eventually, however, the two finished soon after Kaiven had arrived. It brought up a slight touch if disappointment, followed by excitement. He nodded to Sherasti as she began to leave, before he said, "I'll take your leave."

He stepped onto the training mats, eyeing off Master Betulia, "You're Makashi seems to be taking off. I wonder, are you focused on defence and finesse, or would you consider, in some instances, pure power and aggression to win over?"

He threw his cloak aside and held his hand out. His hilt flew to his hand. He flicked the switch, turning his sabre to training, before spinning the hilt twice in his hand, igniting the violet blade on the second spin. He lifted it up, holding the hilt with both hands above his head, blade pointing backwards, before he took his stance, his left foot forwards with his leg bent, his right leg back and straighter, ready to step in.

"This is Djem-So. Attack me." He told Nicholas, rather bluntly.

[avoim]

May the Force be with you, always

"Master, before I do so, I request your name, so I may know with whom I train." After he allowed sufficient time for the man to answer, and with a twirl of the hilt and a resounding snap-hiss, the master’s green Lightsaber sparked to life, the blade itself still tuned to training mode. He considered for a minute using Soresu and letting his fellow master take the first attack, but he figured that wouldn’t be best and he preformed the Makashi salute before making a graceful slash at the man.

Nicholas preformed a variety of high-low slashes, keeping his moves as elegant as he could, but as fast and useful as he could. As Nicholas attacked he would push forward, in an effort to keep the master held at bay to see his own efforts in Makashi, but should the master be able to push back Nicholas would be prepared to drop into Soresu and defend through the onslaught that would come from the strong form known as Djem So.

[/blockquote]

Master Betulia, Avoim Oeymo, Mizuno Betulia

Jedi Master Guardian of the Jedi Order, Grey Jedi for hire, Republic Fighter Pilot

post template made by and © to avoim of Star Wars Universe RP

[Bones]

"Kaiven Te'Baas." He said, still in a rather blunt tone. He tightened his grip slightly as he waited for Nicholas to begin. Eventually, the strikes started coming in. Each time a swipe came at him, Kaiven swung his sabre down from over his head in an ark, knocking Nicholas' attacks away. He smirked, for Makashi, they were rather aggressive, but for Djem-So, they were quite insignificant.

Eventually Kaiven switched his momentum. He parried away the last slash before he raised his sabre above his head. He stepped through powerfully with his right leg, swinging his blade down hard, in a slash that would normally slice the other man in half vertically. He was going to show Nicholas the full barrage of his chosen form.

"This technique is called the Falling Avalanche." Kaiven told him, "The whole point of Djem-So is rapid transition from defense, to attack. And when we wattack, we attack with as much brute force as we can muster. Catch your opponents off guard."