Lessons in what (NOT) to do [Juzt]

[Charlie Sharper]

It was refreshing watching a class of younglings as they bowed to him and retrieved their training sabers before facing each other in rows. Tem Farelle, a goggled Jedi knight found himself here teaching a Youngling class today to help a friend of his, a Knight named Dagolos who had been summoned by the council, but needed someone to cover his class of younglings for lightsaber training. Tem had only assisted the youngling classes before, but felt he could both benefit as well as impart knowledge by teaching the younger generation of future Jedi. As he stood at the head of the class, he looked over the young faces, many races were represented in the Jedi, and younglings were no exception. The red haired Jedi smiled as he spoke, "Hello Class, my name is Tem Farelle." The younglings spoke in unison. "Hello Master Farelle" "Where were you before Master Dagolos was called to the Council?" One youngling spoke, "We were about to start Lightsaber training Master" Tem smiled, he had hoped he could get something like that, lightsaber training was important, and while it was less so then Force training, it was easier to teach then the nature of the force for a first lesson.

"Alright, let's start with a basic Shii-Cho lesson. Form three lines." He said, sending them scurrying around to get into the said lines. He couldn't help but chuckle at their youthful energy. As they both lined up, they looked over to Tem, waiting for their next command. "Now, show me what you've learned so far."[/color] The younglings did as instructed and went through their various strikes and steps, each one after another until they reached a stopping point. During their strikes, he walked the lines and took note of the strengths and weaknesses they had, formulating a lesson in his mind. He stood at he head of the training room again. "I have seen that many of you seem to neglect your footwork, you see, when you strike, you need to step into the strike as to give it power, like so." He said, activating his own training saber and swinging it, stepping forward into the strike. "Now, show me your strikes again, but this time, follow through with your strikes." The younglings all did as instructed and continued to show their strikes as he walked around, taking note of what they did and did not do in their form. "Good, continue..." He said as he watched them continually strike, each time taking a step forward then stepping back to strike again.

As he watched he remembered that Dagolos mentioning a knight assisting him in the class today, but he didn't know who it was, not getting the name before Dagolos left for the council meeting. As he looked around he realized that he might need the help, being as there were over twenty younglings. The assistant wasn't here yet, but Tem knew that he started the class early, forgetting that the aid was scheduled. Finally he heard the sound of feet approaching him, and turned to see who the assistant would be.

[Juzt]

Reiko Shae was 5'7 of blue skin, dark hair and bad temper. The day had started out so promisingly for her a nice hearty breakfast in the morning, following that she had run through her Ataru exercises hitting each mark she set herself perfectly.

Her former Master Phlox had always said she was, “Pretty good with Ataru.”

Unfortunately in her head his words became “You are the Greatest!”

She had been so good she had even had time to fit in a little bit of Kloo horn playing. However, life as a jedi was not always simple. Dagolos, whom she recognised as a teacher of younglings, had barged into her room looking a little harassed. From what she could read between the lines he was off somewhere on a mission and he wanted her to help out teaching his class. Personally she did not much like the idea of looking after a bunch of screaming kids, plus in the past when she had tried to teach them a thing or too they moaned about her being too rough. However, Dagolos begged and promised she would not be on her own. Reiko considered and being the kind and benevolent Knight she was (at least in her eyes) she agreed. As she strode confidently down the corridor and to the teaching rooms she consoled herself that at least she would have an assistant.

She pushed the door open into the room, as expected there were a number of kids running through standard Shii Cho practice, rather badly. She remembered doing it herself and how great she had been at it. In comparison these younglings were just poor. She thought to herself however, that she should not be too hard on them after all none of them were prodigies like her.

However, she did a double take. Stood in the room with the children offering out adivce was a very tall man with longish red hair. She thought he would have been handsome had he not been wearing a pair of totally absurd goggles. Perhaps he was to be her assistant she had to stifle a laugh at seeing him walking around like giant from a bad disaster holovid over the children.

At her approach the big man turned to her. He seemed to be the same age, maybe slightly older than herself. She held out a small hand to him.

“Reiko Shae. Sorry I am late, I had a few um Jedi Knight type stuff to take care of.” She said unconvincingly.

“Anyway...” she smiled broadly “Now I am here we can really get started.”

[Charlie Sharper]

Tem looked down at the, he guess Wroorian, knight in front of him, offering him a hand. He didn't offer his hand but instead bowed. He suspected she wasn't being completely honest, but he let it slide. "Welcome Knight Shae." The class turned to her and (mostly) spoke in unison, "Welcome Master Shae" They said before they all bowed. "We were just working on saber techniques, feel free to observe." Tem spoke before turning back to the class. He motioned for her to make herself comfortable among the class.

The younglings continued to strike at the air and Tem walked around, watching the younglings as they practiced. Eventually he walked to the head of the class and spoke again, causing the younglings to straighten and deactivate their sabers. "Alright, get into two lines and we will try putting it into practice." The red haired Jedi instructed before looking at Knight Shae. The younglings all matched up and waited for a command. "Alright, we will take turns attacking and defending and I want you to try to follow through with your strikes." He said smiling. The younglings formed two lines quickly and each line faced toward the other. "Alright, this is line one." He said pointing to the line on his left. "Begin!" He said as they began to strike at each other and many took steps to follow through with each strike. He turned to Rieko. "If you would indulge me, I was thinking we could have a fun spar to show the younglings how to practically strike at an opponent?" He asked with a smile.

"It could be fun..." he said leaning toward her before looking over at a youngling and calling to him, "Youngling Sokin, if you don't protect your body, they can easily counterattack." He said activating his own saber and taking a fighting stance. "Like this." He said, striking straight down, then from side to side with practiced perfection. His saber blade stayed close enough that he wasn't reaching to strike. "But." Sokin began but Tem interrupted, "You need to step into your strikes, not try to reach for contact." He said firmly. "Yes master Farelle." the youngling spoke with renewed conviction and his brow furrowed in concentration. After two strikes, Tem stopped him again. "Keep your center at all times, strike from a place of strength, or else your opponent will simply knock your saber away." The youngling turned and this time he brought his saber across his body and struck the saber of his partner. "Yes, very good." Tem said, smiling at the boy. He looked back to find Reiko. "What do you say, a little demonstration on the 'Do's and don't's' of saber technique?" He asked with a smile.

[Juzt]

Reiko could not help it, but a broad grin spread across her face at being addressed as 'Master Shae'. It seemed to fit her perfectly in her opinion. She watched them carefully as this Farelle guy gave them their instructions. He came to her side and asked quietly about offering a demonstration. She nodded .

“Yes sure.”

It would be best for the little ones to see an expert in action. Also judging by the way this guy held himself he had to be at least competent so the kids may well learn something. She listened to Farelle offer out advice and instruction to the younglings. It was all good sound solid advice and it seemed like the kids were getting it. She felt a pang of jealousy one thing her ego could never disguise was the fact that she was a lousy teacher.

The younglings more often than not were intimidated by her inability to hold back more than anything else. She was just too competitive for her own good. Not only that but this guy was making all the suggestions, he was really taking charge of the class and it annoyed her deeply on some level. He spoke to her again asking if she would participate in a demonstration.

“Certainly I will.” She smiled unfeelingly.

He to was smiling, smugly she thought. She was decided if she saw one little chance to trip him up and make him look a fool she would take it. She used the force and pulled a training saber into her hand, and bowed stiffly to Farelle.

“You are right best for them to see it in practice.” Her eyes flashed.

She warmed herself up by moving through the first few basic Shii Cho moves. Sweeping the saber in wide dangerous arcs all the while stepping forward. She locked her eyes on his.

“Shall we begin?”

[Charlie Sharper]

[OOC: Use of Reiko Shae during the post was made with permission from Juzt]

The goggled knight continued smiling as he looked at the students, "Class, Knight Shae has agreed to help me demonstrate the importance of carrying through a strike. Now if you all will sit and observe, be sure to pay attention to everything we do." He said as the younglings hurried to against the wall. Tem turned back to Shae before slightly whispering. "Feel free to spice it up a bit, make it a bit more exciting for them..." Tem said with a sly smile. "Alright class, Knight Shae will demonstrate a strike without following through." He said more to the class then his sparring partner before bowing to Reiko. After he rose back to full height and activating his training saber.

As he waited her to move, he took notice of everything about her movement he could, from the way she held her saber to the way she stood, even her posture, it all screamed aggression, he wondered what her chosen style was. He doubted Shii-Cho was her chosen style with that much aggression. He doubted she practiced Makashi because she seemed to be missing that effency of movement, as well as the practiced precision of the form. Sorusu and Niman rarely carried that much aggression and she seemed as if she had spent much time perfecting her saber style, and not with such a diplomatic or defensive mindset as either style. With that level of intenstity Djem So or Shien would fit her well, and maybe even Juyo, but he knew too little about the seventh style to know anything other then the style was quite aggressive. He doubted it was Djem So, as she didn't seem to have the body for it so maybe Shien.

Though, she, like him could be a Ataru user, Tem's favorite form in both philosophy and in exacution. It was elegent and refinded, yet also was raw and powerful, allowing you to demoralize opponants with both shear movement and strength, but was precise enough for delicate manuevers. It was Tem's style from the first time he saw it practiced, and he only grew more innamored with the style the more he learned. It was like Djem So with it's aggression and strength, but also combined a tacticians wit and a dancers flare. Ataru has an effectancy of movement all it's own, combining one attack into another, a block seemlessly into a counter. Everything that Tem saw in saber fighting lead him to believe that Ataru was it's answer.

When Reiko finally made her move she struck high, but as asked, she didn’t follow through and Tem easily knocked the saber almost absently away from his strike zone. Then just as quick, he pushed his own saber to strike at Reiko’s neck, the obvious counter to the attack she had posed, but upon further thought, it wasn’t exactly necessary, these were younglings still far from apprenticeship, but it was never to early to learn correctly, Tem felt.

[Juzt]

Reiko, had sighed and decided perhaps it would be mean spirited even for her to try and make him look a fool in front of the children. She always worried perhaps that she flirted with the darkside more than she should. It was her greatest fear to become a traitor in her heart and hurt those she cared for. All right Reiko was pompous and saw herself as the best but this was an affliction common among Jedi and it did not mean she did not care deeply for other Jedi. She did. She was always trying to help them out, whether they wanted her to or not.

She thought to herself, “No I should be good and reasonable....”

She never completed that thought however. While this had been running through her mind she had been demonstrating a basic attack, and Farelle was blocking. She hit with no force, this was just a demonstration and Farelle was able to block it in a text book manner pushing her blade from him. Then suddenly his blade came at her neck in obvious counter and stopped just inches from it. This was what stopped her completing her thought.

She glowered at him, her yellow eyes narrowed and her face scrunched up. Just as she had promised herself not to humiliate him and take liberties he was doing the same thing, or certainly about to she felt sure. Anger seethed in her body making it shake a little. She grinned to herself now was time for the counter counter strike. Her eyes flashed, and she took a hold of his wrist and ducked under his blade, so she was now sideways on to him, and she swung out her booted leg and hooked it behind his knees and leveraged him onto his back in a quick movement. He was heavy but this was leverage over power. She watched him full back to the ground with intense satisfaction.

She turned now to the children and smiled wickedly, some who she had tried to help before reflexively cowered back , they knew that look.

“Always remember to keep your mind on what your doing.....” she grinned “Or that can happen.”

[Charlie Sharper]

Not many of the younglings laughed or even chuckled at the fallen Jedi. In fact, if Tem was the one standing, he would have been surprised if any noise was made from the younglings, as reserved as younglings are, in addition to how unsporting the move was, the younglings were more likely holding their collective breath, probably afraid of what would happen next, knowing that at least one of the two adults was acting even more childish then any Jedi would ever dare. Of course, Tem was NOT standing, he was the one on the ground, and the younglings might as well have been rolling on the ground with a chorus of laughter, and as for the younglings worries about the Reiko's behavior, they would soon be thinking the same of Tem's.

The silence of the room hung in the air as the younglings dared not do anything, and it was as if the scene was a painting in the hall of the Temple. The huge figure who had just hit the floor was already swinging his legs around and flipped himself back up on his feet, but he did so silently, sneaking up behind Reiko as she continued to look at the Younglings, happy with her 'little' victory. Tem's better conscience was scrambling, -She didn't mean to, she was just acting on instinct!- or -she was just demonstrating the importance of always respecting the opponent's power.- But it was all for not, all of it was useless, Tem told himself -She wasn't respecting me, she was just trying to show off!- And he rose to his full height behind her.

The silence was piercing as Tem stood behind the gloating Jedi. With Reiko busy gloating, the younglings eyes widened in fear as Tem stood behind her, his hulking frame a full foot taller than her. His grimacing face looked over her with a fiery anger in his eyes. That's when he activated the training saber, waiting a moment for the sound register with the entire class, and with a mighty swing; the goggled Jedi brought the blade down straight at her head. -This will show her!-

[Juzt]

Reiko suddenly felt a massive blow to the head, and like her neck was being compacted. She crumpled to the floor stunned for a moment. Physically Reiko was built for speed her body was not designed to absorb blows from a man of the undoubted strength of Tem. Oddly in her haze she was briefly aware of the younglings looking on open mouthed. They were not laughing as she might have expected but they certainly looked terrified. It would be a reasonable thing to lie there and get some treatment and spare those kids further bad behaviour from two people who were supposedly their seniors.

She groaned not just with the pain, but with the knowledge that her own ego tall and delicate like a tower of glass would not let her take this lying down so to speak. She did not even notice she was growling faintly. Looking around blearily, she spotted a chair behind Tem, quickly moving her hand she pulled the chair towards her, and as Tem was in front the chair was hurtling at high speed towards his back. As it travelled through the air a mean nasty little smirk travelled across he lips. “You want to play that game do you?"

[Charlie Sharper]

[Post made with mentions of Reiko approved by Juzt]

Tem was rather quick for his size, he had always been so, it was one of the reasons that he had learned Ataru as a padawan, it began as a simple art to train him to use his speed and acrobatic body to his advantage. Little did his master know that he would hit a growth spurt around his 15th birthday that would bring him to a tower just over six and a half feet tall, and by the time of his later padawan days, he had a finely muscled body to match his height. Some might doubt that he could continue to use Ataru, a lightsaber form that relied on speed and agility above all else, he found ways to keep himself sharp and quick. From daily workouts, runs, and constant training, he kept his agility up and speed up, despite his size and stature. He also learned how to use strength and power to practice the acrobatic lightsaber form, making his strikes both quick, but powerful. Tem's former master, Heldo Felnar, would often tell him that his strength might lend itself more to the fifth form, Djem So, Tem maintained that Ataru was the perfect form for him, and even though he did learn some of the basics of Djem So, it was more to keep his master happy rather than to genuinely learn.

As Tem grew, he would tell himself that Djem So was a solid secondary form to know for times when he couldn't press the attack or was limited in his movements and began to learn the use of knowing something other than Ataru, but in his heart, he considered himself an Ataru practitioner, and as such, would go to it's tenets and strategies by default. So one would assume that he would be confident of his surroundings before he gloated, or to even make sure his opponent was adequately defeated before he let his focus wander from them. Despite his hearts feelings on the matter, and even common better judgement, he did neither of these things. So when the chair flew from it's position next to the wall behind him and came closer to him, he only realized it's impending collision when he saw Reiko's hand moving to pull it into the taller Jedi. This realization was enough for him to turn, but not quickly enough for him to avoid the chair he now saw flying right at him.

His right arm moved to block his body, but when the chair collided with him, he only really succeeded in knocking it off it's trajectory, making it begin to spin like a top, it still collided with his back and side, throwing him to the ground. As he hit, he used his right knee and left arm to break his momentum, and while the hard stone floor elicited a growl from his throat, as well as a shooting pain up from his knee to his brain, he looked up to see Reiko rising as well. In the back of his mind, the voice of reason yelled and shouted to stop this before it got out of hand, but Tem was seeing red, almost literally. His goggles blinked and he pushed off his knee onto his feet, then ran at Reiko at his full speed, which for his size, was considerable.

If Reiko would put her hands up in surrender, to speak the words 'I'm sorry Tem.' or 'I was wrong' it may have stopped him, it might have made him come to his senses. He would apologize for the way he acted, and he would turn off the saber and comfort the younglings, who were no doubt shocked and frightened that two Jedi would act this way. But she didn't, and nor did he, instead he raised the training saber in his hand above his head. He crossed the floor in two great strides, bringing his saber down aimed at Reiko's head.

[Juzt]

Reiko had felt intense grim satisfaction as the chair collided with Tem's large body, however that satisfaction quickly began to recede. As some semblance of sense returned to her mind. They were brawling in front of a group of terrified young ones, this was bad. She felt a dead heavy weight settle in her stomach and a cold chill up her spine. They were going to be in serious trouble. Was it too late to pull back and explain it was all part of a clever lecture about the dangers of the darkside. The thought was a desperate one, but one she was willing to consider that was until she heard the growl. She knew there was no way of getting out of this now. Tem seemed furious and she was hardly calm herself.

Just out of the corner of her eye she spotted one of the younglings running for the door, whether in fear or in hopes of finding some help she had no idea. At that moment Tem with all of his power charged at her, this was bad in a stand up drag out fight Tem would win every time, he was simply to big and too strong for her. His saber was heading for her head in a distinctly unflashy overhand slash. She had to move quickly. Rather than blocking the blow and doubtlessly ending up over powered by him, she pivoted on her right foot, her left swinging out behind her. She was now close to his side, and raised her saber quickly stopping it just short of his throat. She was not going to hurt him if she could help it. Her testy voice spoke in a tone indicating she thought of him as no more than an irritation, “You fought well, but I have won... now back down!” Of course however, in typically Reiko fashion she had arrogantly disregarded him and forgotten that a Jedi who had not been disarmed was still dangerous.

She found the whole situation disturbing, he seemed to complete her. They were of equal skill in many ways, only she was quicker and he was stronger. A competitive woman like Reiko found such a thing hard to stand for. There had to be a winner, and there had to be a looser, she had to prove herself. As much to herself as to anyone else. He like her used Ataru, but he seemed to have converted it to suit his needs using it to batter his opponents into submission rather than dance around them like she did.

[Charlie Sharper]

(OOC: Permission to use Reiko granted by Juzt)

As the Wroonian pirouetted out of the way of his strike, a voice in his head yelled and pleaded with him to calm down, but Tem couldn't hear this voice over his own grunt of anger in response to her movements. She moved elegantly, as if she were a dancer, conveying emotion and meaning in her every move. Tem could have even felt envy for her use of Ataru, as she moved both fluidly and quickly, as it was intended. Tem on the other hand was much slower and less elegant than the blue woman who had just avoided his strike. He was probably seen as oafish and dull in his use of the From IV, which only made him angrier. “You fought well, but I have won... now back down!” She said, and for a moment, she was right, she had won, she had the upper hand, but any hope of ending the fight so easily had long since evaporated. A fury rose in Tem, the likes of which he had not felt for some time.

Tem had, in his youth, been known for a few things; his red hair, his goggles, his skills with the force, but he had also been known for something else, something less illustrious than these other qualities. To call this quality infamous was a much more appropriate description of it's like, but young Tem Farelle was quite hotheaded and impulsive, possibly even wrathful. Thanks to his training, he had done much to curb his anger, redirecting it into his training, using it to push him to work harder and stronger. Tem also used his saber training as an outlet for his aggression, but the problem with this practice was that when his pulse would speed up, and his heart started pumping quickly, he would grow angry.

As Reiko held him at saber point, he was already angry with her for fighting dirty, for embarrassing him twice, and making a poor example to the youngling. But as his pulse quickened, his heart began to peat fast, and his muscles tensed as a predator, the anger in him rose as well. At that point, Tem could not stem, or even slow the tide rising within him. Even if he wanted to stop the fight, which he did not, he would have been unable. As Reiko gloated before him, his arm quickly shot out to his side and he called on the force to push her away, and in the same motion, he raised his saber to the air, then stabbed at Reiko's chest with the training saber, wanting nothing more than the saber to connect and shock her, for that would learn her a lesson about trifling with Tem, she may even realize that her behavior was both foolish and unbecoming for a Jedi such as herself.

[Juzt]

Reiko relaxed her grip on the training sabre, feeling she had hopefully got through to him. She could not have been more wrong. With a simple movement of his arm, she felt herself propelled backwards at high velocity. Her back crashed hard into the wall, she felt a great deal of pain, that was going to bruise. She bleary noted that most of the younglings had disappeared and with them went any hope of them not getting into trouble for this.

She looked up and saw him barrelling towards her the blade pointing directly at her chest. She raised her blade belated to deflect the blow. However, it was not enough all she did was change the angle a bit. He connected with her shoulder and she gave a strangled cry at the feel of the saber. Training sabers still hurt no matter what any one said. She swung her own blade at his middle. It never made contact, she suddenly felt light and felt herself rising off the floor and saw Tem was to. Her head snapped towards the door, and stood there was an elderly male Twi'lek. She recognised him as one of the more senior teachers of younglings. “What in the force's name are you two doing?” Behind him she saw some of the younglings, peeking in looked scared. Some clung to the older man's robes. Her face burned with shame and her hair hung down over her face.

The Old Jedi lowered them to the floor. “Master Vicloter, I...”

“I don't want to hear it.” He said firmly, and spoke into his commlink. “Jarek come to teaching room S2 I need you to cover some lessons for me." He switched if off. “Younglings if you would go inside now please, a young friend of mine will come and cover the rest of this lesson.” He smiled to them kindly as they shuffled into the room giving Tem and Reiko a wide birth. The smile switched to a scowl. He beckoned with a finger, “You two, out here now!” Reiko she gulped and did not look in Tem's direction. She shuffled sheepishly out of the room gone was her usual swagger. Reiko knew she had done wrong and so she went quietly, her blue face blushing purple.