A permanent beginning (Cypris Vosco training)

[Yuno Retje]

Cypris Vosco sat on a bench in a corridor of the Monastery, sweating nervously and breathing heavily. It was not helping that passing padawans were snickering and joking to one another, or that the hot corridor was choked with smoke from torches. Cypris tried not to notice, though, because the Jedi Order had finally appointed him a permanent master.

For years, nineteen-year-old Cypris had been switching from master to master. His first Master, a Twi'lek named Toola Rakar (who had started his training in the lightsaber art of Makashi) had died on a diplomatic mission to Naboo nearly six years ago. Cypris had been learning jumbles of training in different styles and methods, but nothing steady. The upside to this was that he had been trained in all seven forms; The downside was that he couldn't quite utilize any of them, and the different information in his memory and muscles now messed with his Makashi. But now he had a true master (one who he hoped was a Makashi master), and he wasn't going to let snickering padawans ruin that.

 

[Garuga]

A woman strolled casually through the crowded halls of the monastery. Her apparel stood out amongst the masses of brown Jedi tunics and robes, wearing a black dress, simple, but elegant. Her shoulder-length white hair, not caused by age as she was 28, marked her as an Arkanian-offshoot, the fact further supported by her pointed ears. A small smile appeared on her face, but inside she was ecstatic. For the first time in her life, Haven had finally woken up on time to greet her Padawan on time. The past few times... Nevertheless, she still neglected the information file provided to her regarding her new Padawan. She believed conversations would tell you much more than printed words.

All Haven knew about her new Padawan was what he looked like, and a name. Just like how it's supposed to be... Haven thought smiling. After all, it would be more than creepy if they began their introductions and she knew everything he was going to say. Having spotted her Padawan, Haven walked towards the bench, preparing to introduce herself. She stopped a little distance away from the 19 year old and opened her mouth.

"Hello there!" Haven said brightly, her tone very casual. "You must be Cypris, my name is Haven Magnus, pleased to meet you."

She held out her right hand in welcome. Though the sleeves of the dress covered some of her left arm, it was clearly visible that Haven's left arm was a cybernetic replacement.

 

[Yuno Retje]

Cypris shook her hand firmly, smiling. "Yes! It's an honor, madam!"

 

[Garuga]

((Haha, let's keep 1-2 liners to a minimum please :p. And also, I hope you don't mind me doing some 'guiding' godmodding. For example, leading the characters somewhere or to do something.))

Haven laughed and shook her head. "Just 'Haven' is fine." She said good-heartedly. "Madam makes me feel old." Haven gestured to Cypris to follow her. Before they jump right into training, she wanted the opportunity to understand her Padawan better beforehand. "Let's go for a walk. Tython has some remarkable scenery, it would be a shame to miss any of it!" Haven beamed happily. She had grown up at the Monastery, and there wasn't another place in the galaxy that she knew better. Haven indicated that Cypris should walk alongside her, and they left the confines of the Monastery together.

They walked at a leisurely pace, there was no rush after all. Eventually, after 20 minutes or so, they came into a clearing, with one unnaturally tall tree well over 20 metres tall. There were a few boulders present, but otherwise the clearing was a stark contrast when compared to the rest of the forest. This was one of her favourite places on Tython, and she normally took her padawans here for some of the training. Haven turned to Cypris and smiled warmly. "So then Cypris, why don't you tell me about yourself and how you came to be on Tython?" Haven suggested. She took a seat on one of the boulders and crossed her legs. She smiled encouragingly and rested her chin on her cybernetic arm.

 

[Yuno Retje]

((Ok, sorry, and that's fine))

"Well..." Cypris hesitated as he took a seat. Looking at a pebble and moving it with the Force, he began. "I'm from Naboo...My first master, Toola Rakar," His breathing became heavy. "We were on a mission to Naboo...it was simple diplomacy, there was a small group of people who wished to separate from the Republic. Not uncommon these days, but even if it did happen we would need to set up terms. Treaties, territories...that sort of thing. It was going fine, but then we faced a confrontation. Master Rakar and I defended ourselves, but to give me an opening to escape, he-" Cypris swallowed, and the pebble dropped to the ground.

 

[Garuga]

((No need to be sorry! :p))

Haven remained silent for a while, then, she nodded. It was apparent that some unfortunate events had occured, and if it was to be difficult for Cypris right now, Haven would not press the matter. She placed a hand on Cypris's shoulder, and smiled sadly. "I understand what it's like to lose someone, and I know how much it angered me when I was told that I simply had to let go. But, the thing is, that truly is the best thing to do." She said soothingly. Haven wasn't trying to tell him to 'stick it' or anything of the sort, it was simply in her mind that addressing issues or problems directly seemed to yield better results.

"Anyway, now you have me!" Haven beamed brightly. "I can't say that I knew Master Rakar personally, and I don't want to ever 'replace' his presence, but do give me a chance." Haven said this in full earnesty. She would wait until Cypris felt he was ready to proceed.

 

[Yuno Retje]

"Thank you, Haven," Cypris replied, "Well, where will our training began?" He stood, hoping she wouldn't find such an action disrespectful. He wanted to ask her about her life, but thought she might find that disrespectful. After all, with all his different Masters, Cypris had learned a lot of different kinds of respect-and he had also learned that they all start the training differently. For example, Rakar had started with Force meditations and warm-ups, waiting weeks and weeks to work with lightsabers. Cypris wondered how this woman would initiate his training.

 

[Garuga]

"Well, if you don't mind, right here in this clearing!" Haven laughed. "I'm not a big fan of conducting trainings inside the Monastery. We'll go when we need to, but it's much more refreshing outdoors don't you think?" She stood up, and patted some grass off her back. Haven wasn't really too sure how much Cypris had learned through his tenure with other masters, but she was sure she could work through it. She was fairly certain that he would have already learnt and be familiar with the basic core force powers, so she decided to try something different to begin.

Leaping away from where she sat, Haven landed some 5 metres away from Cypris, her face in a wide grin. Raising her right hand in front of her, Haven's double-bladed lightsaber drifted to her hand. Activating the lightsaber, two icy-blue blades emerged on each side of the lightsaber. "Show me what you are capable of!" Haven shouted, grinning like an idiot. She entered a defensive stance, having worked on her skills in Soresu, the most defensive of the forms for all her life.

 

[Yuno Retje]

"Wait a minute, just...fight you? These aren't practice sabers, you know!" Cypris said in confusion, indicating the curve-hilted lightsabers on his belt. Is she crazy? He wondered. I can't do that! He glanced around the clearing, confused. First there was a giant tree, next his master was going to fight him? Cypris wouldn't be surprised if next, they were cloning people to make an army...

 

[Garuga]

Haven chuckled. "You mean to say that you constructed lightsabers with no power-level adjustors?" She asked, slightly incredulous. "But no really, it's fine!" Haven spun the double-saber in her left hand, the blue blades whirling in circles. "I want to see your competency with lightsabers. You know those lightsabers better than any training sabers I can provide. Trust me, just do your best."

Haven smiled encouragingly. Despite her tone of voice, she was being serious. There was no better way of getting to understand her Padawan's capabilities than sparring. She continued spinning it for momentum, waiting for her Padawan.

 

[Yuno Retje]

Cypris couldn't believe what was going on. Reluctantly, he activated a saber from his belt and took the Makashi opening stance. Waiting for his master's attack, he strafed to the left, repositioning his saber slightly so that he could intercept a surprise attack. His lips grew dry, and he glanced to the sky to a strange flying creature. Cypris tuned into the Force, trying to anticipate Raven's attack.

 

[Garuga]

Haven smiled. Normally she would wait until the opponent launches an offensive, but it seemed like Cypris was cautious enough to wait until she was going to attack. Oh what the hell. She thought to herself, taking a few preliminary steps towards her Padawan. Haven saw the slight adjustment he made, and in that moment, she sprinted forward. Her lightsaber was set on it's lowest power setting, so even a direct hit would be no major concern.

Spinning forward, Haven spun her Lightsaber in a direct sweep, targeting his midsection. A double-bladed lightsaber was tricky to use, requiring flourishes and more elaborate movements to use effectively, but it's effectiveness couldn't be denied. Haven's attack wouldn't be too difficult to defend or avoid, it was a probing attack, with intentions of seeing how Cypris would react and respond.

 

[Yuno Retje]

Knowing there was no way he could block the attack, Cypris jumped back as quickly as he could. Although he felt the blade, he thought it would be unlikely that it would disable him in an actual duel. Anticipating a second sweep from the other blade, he ducked towards his right.

 

[Garuga]

Rather than following momentum and conducting a second sweep, because Haven had exerted minimum force on the initial sweep, she was able to quickly adapt her motions to Cypris's movements. She quickly moved to her left, so that she was directly facing Cypris. She wanted to guide him to attack her without physically saying it, as it meant that his subsequent movements would not be controlled instinctively. Haven raised her lightsaber for a seemingly more powerful blow, doing it slower to allow for a gap in her defense. If Cypris made his attack, she would quickly adopt back to her nautral defensive fighting scheme and observe her Padawan.

If Cyrpis continued to refuse attacking... she would have a delightful surprise for him.

 

[Yuno Retje]

Taking the opening in Haven's defense, Cypris spun his blade outward, planning to stop with the tip hovering just in front of her stomach. In a real duel, he believed he could do such an attack and disable his opponent with Shiim, but didn't want to even scratch his new master.

 

[Garuga]

Haven sighed. Yes, Cypris did finally launch an attack, but he was still holding back. Funnily enough, it seemed to be because he did not wish to cause any harm... Haven shook her head, knowing that the saber strike from Cypris would not even reach her body. She raised her left hand, a tremor building through the force. Haven launched a moderate force burst, powerful enough to send Cypris flying back a good 5 meters or so. He wouldn't be injured, she was controlling the magnitude, and the soft grass below would act as padding. Haven was not angry, in fact, she was quite bemused.

It was the first Padawan she had taken on which had displayed such care to not injure her. He probably thinks I'm some vulnerable and delicate woman... Haven giggled to herself. She had wanted Cypris to fight her to his best capability, but perhaps she would have to know him better and proceed with other parts of his training before he would be willing to do so.

Haven walked forward, and offered a hand to help Cypris up. "I apologize" She said earnestly. "But I really wanted you to treat it with your best ability. Perhaps we should look into other areas of training before we continue. Tell me, how proficient do you believe you are in the four core force abilities?"

 

[Yuno Retje]

Although he tried not to show it, Cypris was glad their sparring had stopped-for now. "Well," he started, "I am pretty strong in telekinesis and Force acrobatics." Cypris was hoping his Force applications would be good enough for Haven. He also "accidentally" neglected to mention that the reason he was so strong in telekinesis was because it was what he did when he got nervous or upset.

 

[Garuga]

"Good." Haven said. "The force technique that I am going to teach you now is called Force Shockwave." She walked towards the cluster of boulders, indicating that Cypris should follow her. Haven made sure that he was at a safe distance away before preparing herself. "I will do this slowly, and tell you the key points to this ability at first. Then, you must try on your own." Haven said, allowing the force to flow through her. She closed her eyes, gathering the force into her chest and inner body. "It is similar to normal uses of telekinesis, but instead of projecting the force outwards at first, gather it inside you initially."

Once Haven felt that she was ready, she quickly kneeled down onto the ground, and punched the grass, seemingly lightly. The moment she punched the ground, Haven released the force she had gathered in a 'spreading' manner. The resultant shockwave immediately crushed boulders closest to her in a instant, and swept the resultant crumbs a great distance away. The grass however, stayed undisturbed other than being swept by the wind.

"Control is important, as long as you maintain it, this ability is extremly versatile. Now you try."

 

[Yuno Retje]

Cypris swallowed nervously and glanced at the ground. He walked to another cluster of boulders, and began taking in the Force. Mimicking Haven, he lightly punched the ground, letting out the Force he had gathered up. He caused a crater where his fist was and fell over due to the force coming up from the ground-and worse, none of the boulders had even cracked.

 

[Garuga]

Despite herself, Haven laughed out loud audibly. She walked forward, and helped Cypris up, thinking about a few pointers which will hopefully help. "Good attempt!" Haven said encouragingly. "At least something happened!" Once Cypris was ready to try again, Haven passed on some keys to mastering the ability. "The reason why the shockwave did not work effectively was because the 'spreading' motion that you have to induce onto the force currents was not smooth enough. Don't be so nervous, it's hard for everyone starting!" She said happily.

Once the skill was mastered, it was extremly versatile, so it will be worth the trouble and hassle. Haven gestured to Cypris to try again. She was confident that he could do it. "Don't think about crushing the boulders, simply release the shockwave to your best ability. This is why I prefer the outdoors, a bit of dead grass here and a destroyed rock there is better than demolishing the monastery!"