Evening Work {Ten}

[Rugs]

{Alright, hope this set up works for you}

Nieraan lounged on one of the stone walls that ran around the perimeter of one of the Temple's courtyards. This particular courtyard was devoted to training, and opposed to some of the others, which were a mix of informal training grounds and gathering places for the other Sith. There were no brooding Initiates isolating themselves from their fellows, no knots of students spreading around the latest gossip that'd been filtering through the Temple's halls. In this place, things were business. And this place was his domain.

It'd been a few days since Renata had given him his promotion, after that confrontation in her lair. The thought of how things played out still rankled, but thankfully, no word of it had left that room, high up in the Temple.

He'd wasted little time starting to go about his duties. It was neither possible nor practical for him to spend every waking moment out in the training yard, or dealing with some brat inside, but he'd made strides in setting up things the way he wanted them to be, and the other Sith were learning he was not to be trifled with or taken lightly. He'd put enough foolish challengers in their place, face down in the dirt, on his first day. It was only natural that respect began to follow. Even if he barely looked any older than most of the Sith he was responsible for training. He was older, in most cases, but he didn't feel the need to disillusion any of them. Let them think he was one of them, barely twenty. The stupid ones would act out on it, and they'd get taught a lesson.

Presently, he was taking a break of sorts. The sun was low in the sky and the air was the closest thing he'd felt to cool in a while. His jacket lay on the stone next to him, leaving him in one of his simple t-shirts, which had sweat stains here and there.

He watched over the few students that were still in the yard. Some were working through paired drills, a few others practiced alone. One or two stragglers moved around without anything to do. Probably leaving or new arrivals.

After a few more moments of sitting and drinking from a canteen with some water in it, Nieraan hopped down from his perch. He landed lightly, with little puffs of sandy dust coming up around his boots, and started to walk through the courtyard. For a little while he inspected some of the students working in pairs, gave quick instructions or made terse corrections to sloppy form.

Finally he decided it was time to get a bit more hands-on with someone. A bit of sparring would be good. Loosened up the muscles, got the blood going again. And, he supposed he'd have to give some advice. That was part of his job now.

His gaze drifted over some of the solitary Initiates in the courtyard before he settled on one. A young man, shorter than he was and thin. Nieraan didn't immediately recognize the fellow, but he hadn't seen him working on anything. Perhaps he was taking a break, or had just arrived.

"You," he called out to the fellow as he approached him. He stopped a few feet away from him, yellow eyes glinting in the evening light. The trio of lightsabers hanging from his waist tapped lightly against each other from the shift in motion. "What are you working on?"

[ten10dix]

Athos was leaning on one of the walls in the courtyard, having just finished one of his training exercises. He watched as the other Initiates trained, most with their lightsabers and some with the Force, and studied their form. Most were untrained in the use of a lightsaber, like himself, though Athos could still see faults and mistakes in how they trained, thanks to his experiance in melee combat. He crossed his arms and looked up at the sky, closing his eyes as he started to think of what type of exercise he would do next, before going back inside and doing some reading. Lightsaber training wouldn't be a bad idea, Athos thought to himself, I need to brush up on my skills.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a noise, a soft, nearly inaudible noise. He opened his eyes, and looked up, seeing what appeared to be a human male who seemed to have just jumped and landed. He was in his twenties, at a guess, and Athos nearly disregarded him as another one of the Initiates. But something was... Menacing about him, nearly intimidating. His eyes were yellow, which might indicate exposure to the "Dark" side of the Force, or they may simply be yellow, Athos couldn't tell. But he could tell they were not the eyes of a fool like the other Initiates, and as Athos took more of an intrest to the man he noticied his obvious body strenght, and his lightsabers hanging from his waist, meaning he was more of a combatent then anything else. Wait... Haven't I seen him before? I'm sure some of the other Initiates were talking about him... Athos tried to remember, and eventually did. That's right, he's that newly promoted teacher... thought Athos, studying the man further.

Athos closed his eyes again, forgetting the man for now and pondering on what to do next. Standing around doing nothing was not how he was going to grow in power, that much he knew. Athos finnaly decided a lightsaber training exercise would benefit him the most, and opened his eyes to get up and improve his form. As he opened his eyes, he saw the man walking towards him. Athos readied himself for combat, you never knew which breath would be your last in the Accademy.

"You,"

Athos was about to say something along the lines of "Who, me?" in a rather mocking tone, but stopped himself before he did. Aggravating superior Sith was not a smart move if you value your life, which Athos did. Instead, he decided to show some sort of respect, a flattery of a sort, instead of his usual uncaring responses. Not knowing exactly what rank the man was, he went with the safest option.

"Yes, Sir?"

As he said this, he stopped leaning on the wall of the courtyard and stood up straight, looking the Sith straight in the eye. Now that the man was closer, Athos could tell that his eyes were, in fact, yellow because of his exposure to the Dark Side, meaning he possesed a degree of power. Making a mental note of this, Athos waited for the man to reveal what he wanted from him.

"What are you working on?"

Athos, still rather suspicious of the Sith's intentions, replied in a rather respectful tone, still looking directly into the Sith's eyes.

"I am working on my saber skills, Sir, doing training exercises. After that, I was going to call it a day and go back into the Accademy, to learn more about the Sith by reading various texts. If I may be so bold as to ask why you wish to know, Sir?"

Apart from the respectful tone, Athos was completly neutral. He studied the man furhter, impressed by his visible strenght and his ability to make even Athos slightly nervous of his presence, though he did not show it. As he finished his sentance, he waited for the man to answer, hoping he could reveal more about this Sith and what he wanted. Athos always had been slightly paranoid, and most of the time with good reason.

[Rugs]

{Sorry for the delay. Been out of town. I'm also a little rusty from not posting in a while, so this may not be that great}

Nieraan regarded the other Sith as he spoke. The man--or boy, he looked as old physically as Nieraan did--was about average height, but small. Thin. Rather unimpressive physically, providing a sharp contrast to Nieraan. Wouldn't be the first, Nieraan thought quietly as he gently probed around the edges of the Sith's presence with his refined senses.

He wasn't very impressive in the Force either. How strong he truly was, Nieraan couldn't say, but he had the same raw, untapped feel about him that Nieraan had noticed in many of the younger Initiates. Potential was there, and he didn't even seem to be as off to as poor a start as some of the others. But there was work to be done. A lot.

Him and every other damn newcomer, Nieraan thought, nearly muttering to himself under his breath. The more he got to see through his new position, the more he began to realize how close to the mark he'd been in his quick assessment of the state of many of the Sith's newest members.

"I am working on my saber skills, Sir, doing training exercises. After that, I was going to call it a day and go back into the Academy, to learn more about the Sith by reading various texts. If I may be so bold as to ask why you wish to know, Sir?"

Nieraan fought the urge to roll his eyes at all the 'sir's. "Nieraan," he muttered gruffly, folding his arms over his chest. The students would respect him, and he'd make sure the ones that didn't learned to, but he was starting to learn he detested being faced with what felt like flattery, honest or not. "My name is Nieraan."

A quiet fell over him again for half a heartbeat as he studied the Sith again briefly, wondering how much he knew. "I'm the instructor. You get the pleasure of working with me tonight." There was a bit of sarcasm riding on that. He'd teach the guy something, of course. He always did that. But he was a hard teacher, if still softer than he'd like. It was all he knew, after all, after being forced through his mother's harsh tutelage. He'd hated it, but couldn't deny her methods had made him an accomplished fighter.

"Come with me," he said, letting his arms fall to his side and turning around to lead the student to a more open area with more space and further away from the other students. "You must be new here. I don't believe I've seen you before. What's your name?"

He allowed time for an answer, then stopped and motioned for the student to stand a few feet away from him. "Before I assess you for myself," he started, looking at the student out of the side of a yellowed eye, "how much training have you had?" While he waited for the boy to answer, he drew one of the lightsabers from his waist. It was the third one, one he'd taken from a slain Jedi a few months ago. It was emerald green, though it remained unlit, even as he made a motion for Athos to draw his own weapon and come at him.