[ASK] Mind, Meditation, and Martial Arts

[Undine]

~ Lamaredd: S-18, [thread=59699]Jedi Outpost ~[/thread]

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~ Theme Song ~

Jade sat within one of the few training rooms lining the halls of the Lamaredd Jedi outpost that was empty. She had been in deep meditation for hours due to a particularly painful migraine she had developed earlier that morning. Two Jedi Knights had gotten into a disagreement and their emotions had washed into her through the Force, aggravating the delicate balance she spent so much energy holding in place. After attempting to calm both of them and succeeding in only in getting them to walk away from the other, she had left to find some space to nurture her degenerating hold over her own mind in the hopes that the pain would subside.

Lucky enough for the pantoran padawan, she had been relieved of the pain a couple hours ago and she just decided to continue meditation for her own peace of mind. This peace and quiet couldn't last forever though, that was always clear to Jade. Sooner or later another padawan or Knight would come to use the training room and she would be force to find somewhere else to meditate. The thought of going for a short swim crossed her mind but was quickly dismissed. There was just too much going on in the town of Lameredd for such a careless action. "Perhaps I can find someone to train with." She thought to herself with a smile. She did have a fondness for training alongside her fellow Jedi.​

 

[Pygmy Sloth]

Hope was fuming. She didn’t understand how the sun wielders could preach peace, love, civility, and equality and still be so…brutal. Sure they tried to hide their laughs and cover their mouths as they talked about her, but Hope’s ear were keen, as were all Nightshade’s. She could hear what they were saying and it was not civil. On Umbara among her people she would give them a swift kick and have her hand at their throat until they renounced their comments. Hope had learned extremely quickly that ‘attacking Jedi’ was unacceptable behavior. That didn’t stop her from making them pay during training exercises however. The Masters had picked up on this behavior as well and Hope found herself being paired with kinder students who treated Hope fairly. Hope wanted to succeed as a Jedi and in order to do that she needed to learn to meditate her anger and stress away. And when that didn’t work, she went to the training rooms to punch some dummies.

Hope burst throught the normally empty training room and found that there was a lone Jedi meditating in the center of the room. Not wanting to disturb the Jedi, but needing to train, hope decided to take a few quiet steps towards the woman. Hope was cautious, it was the other young women who treated her the worst so that gave Hope even less reason to disturb the woman. Hope let out a gruff low growl of frustration. Not wanting to disturb the woman and also not wanting to see the woman retract in horror, disbelief, shock, shame, or any other look Hope had received.

“Excuse me,” Hope said in a low but sing-song voice, attempting to mask her “Do you mind if I let off some steam?”

 

[Undine]

Jade wasn't able to see the woman until she entered to training room, but she had sensed her frustration as she made her way down the hall to the room. The young pantoran had never met this padawan before. Smiling at her question, Jade opened her eyes revealing herself to be blind. "I don't mind at all, but I'd suggest some meditation to relieve steam, although if you'd prefer it I'd like to join you if thats alright. A Jedi can always use some extra practice." Standing up and gesturing in the direction of the various training equipment in the room, she asked, "Anything in particular? I'm adequately skilled in martial combat, we could also use a few training sabers to work on our lightsaber combat. I'm not properly trained or skilled to teach Force abilities or anything crazy but I'm open ears."

Smirking ever so slightly at the thought of the Force delivering her a sparring opponent just at the thought of wanting to practice, Jade hoped whoever this was that they would be not only willing to train with her, but a bit of a challenge. She had sparred with many of her peers, but only a few stuck out as challenging. Jade had even sparred with a Jedi Knight in the hopes of finding someone she could learn from.​

 

[Pygmy Sloth]

The female Jedi smiled and looked up from her meditation. Her eyes were cloudy white, a trait Hope recognized from some of her fellow tribesmen. It made Hope flashback to something one of the Masters had told her when she’d complained about having to deal with the other Padawans molesting her. “Everyone has something, Hope. Whether it’s the burden of who we are, or some affliction we carry with us, we all have something.”

Hope had understood what the Master meant, but it didn’t help that Hope’s ‘something’ was who she was and the other padawan’s ‘somethings’ weren’t so visible. The Jedi sitting in front of her however, was much more relatable, as her ‘something’ was visible, pun unintended. "I don't mind at all, but I'd suggest some meditation to relieve steam, although if you'd prefer it I'd like to join you if thats alright. A Jedi can always use some extra practice. Anything in particular? I adequately skilled in martial combat, we could also use a few training sabers to work on our lightsaber combat. I'm not properly trained or skilled to teach Force abilities or anything crazy but I'm open ears."

“Meditation won’t help. I appreciate the advice though.” As the other Jedi stood Hope extended a hand to the woman. Her hands were furry and rough from the scapulae, but Hope’s grace and deftness of touch made them not unpleasant to touch. Of course after a moment Hope realized that the Jedi might not be able to see her hand. Not wanting to embarrass herself or the other female she quickly put her hand down. “My name is Hope. And I don’t have any training with a sunsaber. So maybe just some hand to hand combat? Throw some force abilities at each other for fun?”

Hope grinned a toothy smile that she was pleased the other student couldn’t see. Her teeth had evolved to tear into the meat of prey and weren’t the straight pearly white omnivorous teeth of humans. Hope didn’t want to hurt the other woman; but she didn’t imagine the blind woman being able to put up much of a fight either. You can’t hit what you can’t see after all. Hope sauntered to the center of the room and naturally blended her fur into the colors of the room around her. She again, wasn’t thinking about fighting a blind adversary who couldn’t see her whether she was camouflaged or not, she was simply going through her normal fighting routine. Get set, blend in, strike.

 

[Undine]

As the older padawan offered her hand Jade smiled and reached to accept, only to grasp at the air. Furrowing her brow in confusion she listened to the woman as she spoke her name. "It is always good to meet another Jedi Hope, I am Jade Evoyn and I'd like that actually, mixing martial arts with that of the Force is actually a specialty of mine if I do say so myself." Jade took a moment to think over whether or not it would be cheating if she didn't tell the older padawan that she could in fact see.

After a moment she concluded that all advantages were fair game so long as you used them honorably, still she felt that it wouldn't be fair to treat someone who was obviously dealing with something in such a manner. Taking up a classic defensive Teräs Käsi position before speaking. "I should let you know that I can see, just not with my eyes. I am very much blind however the Force has given me the gift of sight since the beginning of my memories." The young padawan took a moment to focus her mind and calm her muscles. "Do not think me defenseless, it is an advantage I will be more than willing to utilize." Her words were not cold, but they were spoken in a matter-of-fact tone so as not to sound like a show off.

With her mind at ease and her body ready for movement, Jade closed her eyes and slowed her breathing. They may be practicing hand-to-hand combat, but she wanted to test her hand at utilizing the core philosophy of Soresu alongside her Teräs Käsi training. The form had peaked her interest recently and it was always wise to test something before pledging oneself to it's study long term. If she found the philosophy to complement her current style then she would seek further training, most likely under a Knight.​

 

[Pygmy Sloth]

"It is always good to meet another Jedi Hope, I am Jade Evoyn and I'd like that actually, mixing martial arts with that of the Force is actually a specialty of mine if I do say so myself. I should let you know that I can see, just not with my eyes. I am very much blind however the Force has given me the gift of sight since the beginning of my memories. Do not think me defenseless, it is an advantage I will be more than willing to utilize." Hope felt awkward at having mistaken the woman for not being able to see. But she was excited that the Jedi, Jade Evoyn took her up on the offer. Jade took up a defensive position that was very curious to Hope. Hope didn’t have any formal training in an established martial art form. Her training was very primitive and specialized in quick and silent takedowns. Prolonged engagements were seen as a failed encounter.

As this was a training exercise Hope’s objective was to quickly takedown Jade or deliver a strong blow that would disorient her momentarily. The positioning of Jade’s stance gave Hope the impression that the form would focus on defense and quick powerful strikes. “Well Jade Evoyn, let’s see how well you’ve been trained.”

Hope began strafing to the right around Jade. She was attempting to get as far to the left of Jade as possible. After she felt comfortable with her position she took two quick steps forward towards Jade. Jade was much shorter and lighter than Hope which would give Hope a reach advantage. Hope threw a wild hook with her right fist. Assuming Jade would attempt to block the blow with her left arm, Hope immediately attempted a roundhouse kick with her right leg to Jade’s left thigh. Normally Hope would aim for the knee but she didn’t want to seriously injure the Jedi in a simple training exercise.

 

[Undine]

A coy grin blossomed across the pantoran's face at the words of the older padawan. "How well I've been trained." The words danced their way around Jade's mind as she thought back to all the training sessions and sparring matches. She had chosen to learn Teräs Käsi because it enabled a user to develop extreme speed and an aptitude for anticipating strikes. Paired with Jade's innate ability with Force Sight and her training in the Art of Movement, she was much more than just a skilled martial artist, not that one would ever find her boosting of her skills, just training further.

As Hope moved to the left of her Jade didn't moved, her eyes closed and her focus on the woman as she moved closer for an attack. Without turning to look she ducked under the rash blow. Anticipating another quick attack she fell to her left side and swung her right leg backwards in a preemptive counter attack. Hope's kick grazed just centimeters above the pantoran's head as Jade attempted to knock the older padawan to the ground while she was resting her balance on a single foot.​

 

[Pygmy Sloth]

As Jade's short leg came toward Hope she did her best to grab a hold of it with both arms. The grapple would be sloppy but the scapulae on Hope's hands would give her a good grip if she managed to get a hand on Jade. She would absorb the blow from the kick and yank the other woman's leg as hard as she could to knock Jade down. Hope would rotate on her right leg and use her body to pull the smaller woman off her feet. The move would leave Hope's back exposed for a moment, but it would also allow Hope to fall backwards and jab her elbow into Jade's gut. Hope didn't want to be too rough and upset one of the few Jedi who had given her the time of day so far and not made fun of her.

If Hope failed to grasp Jade's leg as it came toward her she would step in close and throw a left jab at Jade's head as she brought her other hand up to protect her from counter attacks. This was a more defensive stance than her first one. The backwards kick wouldn't be terribly powerful and Hope let her adrenaline keep her going and not be slowed down by the blow.

 

[Undine]

Jade watched with wide eyes as the feeling of surprised shock washed over her, the low kick she had used in an attempt to throw Hope of her feet did nothing to so much as unbalance the older padawan. Stunned at the fact that she hadn't even been able to even unnerve the Nightshade she didn't have time to realize what Hope was doing before it was too late.

Due to this Jade was caught off guard as Hope grabbed ahold of her legs in a clumsy but painful grip and half dragged, half tossed the Pantoran across the floor behind her. This earned a look of slight terror to blossom across the pale blue skin of Jade's face, resulting in a deep purple to appear shading out the freckles that covered the bridge of Jade's nose and cheekbones.

Jade snapped out of her shock just as Hope maneuvered to fall backwards and deliver a crippling blow with her elbow. Jade pulled up her hands and focused more intensely as she threw the palms of her tiny hands upward. She let loose a telekinetic push at the sight of Hope's back in a last ditch effort to get Hope off of her and get back on her feet. "I'm getting curb stomped!" was the thought that went through her head at that very moment, it was something she didn't enjoy thinking and she redoubled her focus as she drew on the Force to prepare for the next stage of the sparring session.​