Ask Germane Riposte

[Kanaloa Tau]

Kanaloa showed up at one of the still-under-renovation outbuildings of what would eventually be a refurbished academy for Drommund Kaas. He'd only visited the rainy planet once before and was already highly fond of the weather. Cool, windy, and rainy was a very comfortable combination for a Wrean. There wasn't much of an attempt to avoid the rain on his way through, resulting in a moderately soggy but lightly dressed Kane stepping onto the awning outside the large dueling chamber. Five minutes early, nice.

He wore patterned, wide-legged pants that narrowed near the ankles and a light one-layer tunic, a woven cloth belt around his waist with little attachy-bits and pouches slipped between the cords, and light cloth shoes. Relatively typical training stuff back home, so he figured it'd do. Kane brought his compacted spear and knife, although this was technically a lightsaber training... thing.

Why was he here, considering neither he nor any native Wrean really used swords? Good question, self, high five. Kane was here because he didn't have any experience with lightsabers and that was mandatory. Besides, it was part of learning Sith techniques and he already may have stalled this part out of pure polearm-related pride. Only the basic levels had been covered so far.

After squeezing water from his hair and lazily tying it loosely back behind his neck he'd step into the room, shoes making soft squeak sounds against the floor from the water. "Molo, I'm Kane," he greeted with an easy little smile, approaching the apparent instructor and offering his right hand to shake. His clothes were already half-dried and the young man himself was clearly not bothered in the least by the ambient chill. "I'm here to learn about laser s- lightsabers." Good save, maybe the instructor wouldn't notice.

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn had, of course, arrived quite early because he had to literally try in order to be late to things. Dressed once again in robes that were fitting for training in, he had spent the last several minutes, centering his mind on the dueling to come. He envisioned movements in his head. Strikes and ripostes turned into fatal blows. Sometimes against him, sometimes against his "opponent." Each one was a learning experience in its own way, and a form of meditation that Varyn had developed to empty himself of anything but the blades.

His eyes opened as he sensed someone approach and he pushed himself to his feet in sync with the door opening. His head tilted ever so slightly to the side at the squelching sound of the other man's shoes, but he didn't actually comment on it.

Instead, he took the offered hand of introduction.

Varyn. I'll be the Champion running you through some drills today, he said. The statement about laser swords didn't seem to phase him either. He'd heard plenty of people call them that over the years, even if it wasn't the more popular term.

Tell me a little about yourself, Kane. And what you know about lightsabers, he said. Neither question was random, and it was quickly becoming a piece of his training repertoire. The Champion had plenty of his own views about dueling, and saw it as much as an art form as anything else. Or at least, he probably would have if he had an artistic bone in his body, but he didn't really.

 

[Kanaloa Tau]

Fingers tippity-tapped against the cloth belt where his compacted spear hilt lay clipped, thoughtful. "Good to meet you," he readily replied in accented basic, amber-gold eyes idly wandering around the unfamiliar room and its neat rack of training weapons. An amused smirk briefly curled his lips. "I'm from the Tethysian Republic, a people who don't use swords." Surely the first thing Varyn wanted to hear from his newest swordsmanship student. Surely. "We use these."

Kane unclipped the quicksilver spear from his belt, a little longer than your average lightsaber, and pressed a button. Metal slid and expanded from both ends until it reached a total two-meter length, with a long, leaf-shaped blade on one end. From its shape, it could both cut and thrust. He planted the butt end against the floor and leaned it against his shoulder at rest.

"I know lightsabers burn most things, their weight is strange, and they're useful against blasters." Common knowledge, really. "Annnd a few basic required forms." Kane didn't seem shy about his lack of knowledge, confident as he was in his usual armament. Still, he was at least curious about laser swords in general. They must be popular for some reason, right?


"What about you?" Kane looked forward to an interesting answer. He wasn't overly fond of lectures, but a comparison of experiences was usually fun and educational.

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn was silent, his gaze surprisingly intense as he both watched and listened to what the Acolyte said. His eyes were - of course - pulled to the weapon the man held in his hand, a neat trick, and he wondered if the weapon was made of some lightsaber-resistant material. If not, the Acolyte was going to be in for a rude awakening at some point.

Varyn couldn't help but find irony that he'd brought it to a saber-training class, but that was fine. His explanation of what a lightsaber was was rudimentary, but... well, at least it wasn't wrong.

A lightsaber is an extension of the Sith who wields it. The Force flows through the kyber so that it... becomes one with you, he said. It was an important point, and the core reason that the weapons were so favored by Jedi and Sith alike.

He'd been asked about himself, but he didn't actually answer. Not because he didn't want to answer, but because he hadn't really received the answer to the question he had asked.

He shook his head.

No, I want to know about you, he said, taking a seat on the ground. It was clear they were not going to be launching directly into hacking and slashing out of the gate, for better or worse.

Using a lightsaber is also an expression of yourself. I want to guide you to the proper discipline, he said, before relenting a moment. Perhaps this was a good opportunity to answer Kane's question. An example of what he meant.

I chose to study the lightsaber as one of my primary tools. I'm a person who looks at the big picture and cares about results more than the process. I'm competitive and I enjoy the play and counter-play of fighting. I'm also practical, which probably stems out of being results oriented, he said. It all played into the "why" of the saber form he had ultimately chosen to study. His form tended to be an assassin's form because they, too, were results oriented perhaps.

 

[Kanaloa Tau]

Kane couldn't decide if the Champion's explanation was practical or not. He wasn't really that familiar with 'kyber' but becoming one with your weapon sounded similar to what the spear teachers said. With a silent determination that it was probably magic he consciously removed the semi-skeptical look off his face and moved on. "So it's a magic plasma sword?" he asked, just to be sure Varyn wasn't speaking in euphemisms. It was hard to tell with people sometimes.

His lips curled slightly into something pensive and mildly displeased, hesitation over giving more than a vague personal outline to the other man balancing against learning new and important skills. Kane's gaze was sharp and cool for the few moment's pause between Varyn speaking, shifting only when he the human spoke up first as an example. Given that, the desire to learn won out and that analytical look returned to relaxed neutrality.

"Well in that case," he began, a hand moving left to right like he was setting some imaginary object aside and squatting down comfortably with his heels flat against the floor. "I look for details, or ah, patterns, and go with the flow of things in a practical way. Continuity and change. Instinct does well for me. Is spontaneous the word?" There was a short pause, the young Wrean's head tilting slightly as he looked at Varyn. "I'm competitive as well," he started again before adding, "And I think method and result are together by nature." There was a little personal philosophy thrown in there that he had to be converted awkwardly to basic, but maybe it got across clearly enough.

"I was taught shaman's methods back home and find interest in weirding ways. That's my calling more than pure weaponry." Kanaloa flashed Varyn a fanged grin, charming and playful. "I also like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain, since you're interested."

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn was again, not thrilled with Kane's description of a lightsaber, but fine.

A bit reductive, but yes, sure, he said. Once again, it wasn't wrong, but it didn't really encompass the history of the weapon. Perhaps things would be clearer to the other man when he actually handled one.

He listened to what the other man had to say about himself, trying to piece together what may work best for him. He considered how it would all work together, but then they arrived at the final part. And that would no doubt change many things.

Yes, well, I guess that's why you were squeaking when you came in, he said in response to "being caught in the rain."

Hmm, he said for a moment. Well if you're not going to be a duelist, then you probably don't want most of the more time-intensive Forms to learn, he said.

You're proficient with the spear? Tell me how that works? What is the style like? Mobility? Strength? Lots of spinning? Distance thrusts? he asked.

And how much time are you willing to invest in learning the saber? It was a lot to ask, but it all went into the formation of who he would be as a fighter. As Varyn saw it, your fighting style spoke a great deal about you.

 

[Kanaloa Tau]

Kane waggled his eyebrows a bit at Varyn's squeaky shoe reply, grin still firmly in place. "Just so. I'll have to get the drink later." He rocked slightly and straightened to standing, taking a couple of steps back and giving the Champion a mildly bemused look. "A duelist is someone dueling, no? Why distinguish?" he asked, turning ninety degrees to his right and sinking into a low, wide-legged stance.

The Wrean held his weapon wide with the tip straight forward, left hand wrapped around the blunt end and the other well above it, giving him excellent leverage. Kane began a circular advance, orbiting around Varyn on the floor while making small diagonal movements left or right. With a short wrist movement, his spear tip abruptly swished a foot upward, then back down and into a straight thrust. It retracted, flicked left-then-right, upward-angled thrust to the face. He chained similar thrusts, some turning into flicking cuts or changing angles or range with seemingly random timing.

Varyn, viewing from the side as Kane went through a short offensive kata at training speed, would hopefully get the idea better than the Wrean could explain aloud even if Kane wasn't the best spearman He finished with a thrust at maximum range, shaft sliding through his lead hand until both hands touched. Then he pulled it all the way back and turned to face Varyn again, spear tip facing right, and moved it back to lean vertically against his shoulder and the floor. He took a deep breath.

"It's like that, more or less," he stated simply with a little nod like that explained everything by itself. "Like water, yeah? Move, thrust, and be flexible to fill in space in new directions. Strength is ah, just enough? I'm not a master." There was a pronounced pause, during which the Wrean gave Varyn a questioning look. "... What spear form has 'lots of spinning'?" He blinked, un-distracting himself. A small shrug.

"Enough to learn. I've free or flexible time." He didn't really know how else to answer that question without more detail.

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn seemed unamused by the reply about duelists. Whether the Acolyte was trying to be witty or he genuinely believed what he said, Varyn wasn't sure.

If I put a bandaid on someone's leg, does that make me a doctor? The difference between a duelist and someone who duels is study and practice. Years of it, he said. He wondered to himself if he was turning into a grouch or if it was simply the role he was playing for this particular job. Hard to tell.

It was probably a fair question the acolyte had asked, maybe? He pushed the thought out of his head as Kane began to move. Instinctively, Varyn's footwork mirrored the man's own as he circled, keeping the other man in front of them despite the fact that they weren't actually fighting.

He watched the movements with a keen eye, taking in everything he saw. Varyn was no spearman and certainly not a Jedi Weaponmaster or whatever the Sith equivalent was, but he still saw similarities between it and the saber.

He nodded, liking what he saw and then shrugging when asked what spear form had lots of spinning.

You'd be surprised. Flashy ones, he said. And not particularly practical, but sometimes ceremonial uses aren't for reality, he said, assuming some of the tribal spear-twirling he'd seen was just that: a show. Frankly, Varyn didn't know enough about it to say for certain.

We should probably start with the basics, which is to say Form I just to adjust to using a saber, but no one really uses that outside of training. Or at least, most people don't, he said.

Your spear form reminds me of Form II, actually, which is a form all about thrusting, ripostes, and line-based footwork. Very much focused on saber to saber combat, but not necessarily a great all-rounder by itself because it's crap against blasters, he said.

 

[Kanaloa Tau]

"Well, no. They'd be a bandager," Kane replied with an amused smirk. "One who studies and plays piano is a pianist, yes? Wouldn't most Sith academy graduates be duelists then?" It was probably hard to tell how serious this terminological discussion was on the Wrean's part or if it was just some kind of language thing. Or maybe he was just having fun.

He shrugged a bit at the ceremonial spear commentary, glad he hadn't learned something that useless. His stance changed to leaning against his spear, head slightly tilted. "That's academy standard form?" Kane asked with a hint of trepidation. "The stiff, choppy one?" Suffice it to say he wasn't a huge fan of the relative lumbering Shii-Cho was known for. It was practically written on his face.

"I'll take your word." Maybe a different teacher not barking at a class of like thirty people would help. He'd gotten in trouble for just kicking his opponent over in frustration during the first sparring class. Also got a cookie out of it for some reason. The duality of Sith.

"I'm not familiar with the second form at all, but it sounds better than the first one."

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

And again there's a gap between a professional pianist and a 9-year-old who took lessons for a month, he said with smirk. And yes, some of the students that come out of the academy are about as good as the 9-year-old, he snickered.

He could tell how hesitant that Kane was about Shii-Cho and he couldn't really blame him. But this wasn't a big, structured class, it was a smaller tutoring-type session.

Yes, which means you'll probably be subjected to Form I at some point, but until then... he said, pushing himself to his feet and snatching the saber off of his belt and lighting it up. He double-checked it was on training and took a stance.

Alright, let's give Form II a try, he said. Alright, take a side-stance like this, he said standing in profile with his saber arm toward the other man.

How does the saber feel? he asked, waiting for him to adjust to a different weapon.

 

[Kanaloa Tau]

Varyn's comment about 9-year-olds got a good chuckle out of the Wrean acolyte. He wouldn't exactly know, considering his relative newness, but still. "Then I'll have to be at least good as a 13-year-old!" he declared with a playful grin. "Since that's the distinction." Yeah, he was totally just having fun.

Kane walked over to the weapon wracks and grabbed a training saber, his spear leaned up against the wall next to it, then strode back. He gave Varyn and his stance a good twice-over and tried to mimic the stance, looking down at the saber to ignite it, then adjusting again. It was mainly his experience with a semi-similar stance that made his own not suck, but there was a laundry list of obvious flaws.

For one, his feet were too far apart for the one-handed weapon, and while he was side-face-ish it was still too square for Makashi. Kane's guard was also habitually dipped lower like his spear's, at least until he looked over again and, with pursed lips, rose it up again. "Like a knife that's too long," he answered. He wasn't attuned to it whatsoever and the hilt's weight, mixed with the false weight of the plasma blade, was messing with his sense of the lightsaber.

A problem not presented so badly by a two-handed grip, but also one that would probably buff itself out over time. Probably. "Less like a statue."

@Phoenix